Older Jail Inmates and Community Acute Care Use

Objectives. We examined older jail inmates' predetainment acute care use (emergency department or hospitalization in the 3 months before arrest) and their plans for using acute care after release. Methods. We performed a cross-sectional study of 247 jail inmates aged 55 years or older assessing sociodemographic characteristics, health, and geriatric conditions associated with predetainment and anticipated postrelease acute care use. Results. We found that 52% of older inmates reported predetainment acute care use and 47% planned to use the emergency department after release. In modified Poisson regression, homelessness was independently associated with predetainment use (relative risk = 1.42; 95% confidence interval = 1.10, 1.83) and having a primary care provider was inversely associated with planned use (relative risk = 0.69; 95% confidence interval = 0.53, 0.89). Conclusions. The Affordable Care Act has expanded Medicaid eligibility to all persons leaving jail in an effort to decrease postrelease acute care use in this high-risk population. Jail-to-community transitional care models that address the health, geriatric, and social factors prevalent in older adults leaving jail, and that focus on linkages to housing and primary care, are needed to enhance the impact of the act on acute care use for this population.