• Terrence E Murphy, Dorothy I Baker, Linda S Leo-Summers, Heather G Allore, and Mary E Tinetti.
• Section of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
• J Am Geriatr Soc. 2013 Oct 1;61(10):1763-7.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the association between the treatment region (TR) or usual care region (UCR) of the Connecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention (CCFP), a clinical intervention for prevention of falls, and the rate of hospitalization for fall-related traumatic brain injury (FR-TBI) in persons aged 70 and older and to describe the Medicare charges for FR-TBI hospitalizations.DesignUsing a quasi-experimental design, rates of hospitalization for FR-TBI were recorded over an 8-year period (2000-2007) in two distinct geographic regions (TR and UCR) chosen for their similarity in characteristics associated with occurrence of falls.SettingTwo geographical regions in Connecticut.ParticipantsMore than 200,000 persons aged 70 and older.InterventionClinicians in the TR translated research protocols from the Yale Frailty and Injuries: Cooperative Studies of Intervention Techniques, a successful fall-prevention randomized clinical trial, into discipline- and site-specific fall-prevention procedures for integration into their clinical practices.MeasurementsRate of hospitalization for FR-TBI in persons aged 70 and older.ResultsConnecticut Collaboration for Fall Prevention's TR exhibited lower rates of hospitalization for FR-TBI than the UCR (risk ratio = 0.84, 95% credible interval = 0.72-0.99).ConclusionThe significantly lower rate of hospitalization for FR-TBI in CCFP's TR suggests that the engagement of practicing clinicians in the implementation of evidence-based fall-prevention practices may reduce hospitalizations for FR-TBI.© 2013, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2013, The American Geriatrics Society.

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