by
Kathy Wetters on
May 03, 2012
Before North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, FL, re-engineered its discharge process 2 yrs ago, 29% of patients were being readmitted within 30 days. Now, it has dropped to 15%. The team examined the records and interviewed patients admitted within 30 days,findings were somewhat of a surprise
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by
Kathy Wetters on
April 11, 2012
Reducing avoidable hospital readmissions is about improving support across all settings, including hospitals,office practices, home care, agencies on aging, social services and skilled nursing facilities," says Patricia Rutherford, RN, vice president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
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by
Kathy Wetters on
September 27, 2011
Healthcare providers continue to address the Affordable Care Act and Readmission Reduction Program, which penalizes hospitals for having readmission rates in excess of national standards. Reduction will depend on a collaborative effort between hospitals, post-acute rehabilitation facilities, long-term care, home healthcare, ambulatory practices, and home and community based services.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
June 10, 2011
Some hospitals have been focusing more on care transition issues in anticipation of the advent of accountable care organizations (ACOs) or just because it's a way to improve both quality and efficiency in health care.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
June 10, 2011
Hospitals have addressed readmissions through a variety of strategies, including nursing follow-up and phone calls, referring patients to transitional primary care clinics, and having a hospitalist or nurse call community providers to make appointments for patients. But there is one more new strategy that some hospitals are trying: referring patients to a physician house call service.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
May 25, 2011
What gives? All too often, experts, say, the problems that send patients back to the hospital might have been avoided if there had been a better handoff from the hospital to the people responsible for the next phase in a patient's recovery, whether it's the patient himself and his family, a home health agency, a nursing home or a hospice. "We don't do a good job of coordinating care," says Patricia Rutherford, vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
May 20, 2011
As talk of reimbursement reform and pay-for-performance escalates and health care stakeholders look at ways to improve patient access and outcomes while reducing waste and costs, payers and providers are joining together to create accountable care organizations (ACOs), partnerships that agree to be accountable for the quality, costs, and overall care of a patient population.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
May 06, 2011
"Time Out" discharge planning questions may include:
* Are all the necessary prescriptions filled?
* Is needed equipment going to be delivered to the patient's home?
* Is the next doctor's appointment already made?
* Has any outpatient testing been scheduled?
* What's the date of the first home care visit?
* Does the patient know where to go for physical, occupational, or speech therapy? How is he or she going to get to therapy?
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by
Kathy Wetters on
May 06, 2011
Four Pillars of Post Discharge Follow Up-* teaching patients medication self-management;
* educating them to recognize warning signs and symptoms and what to do when they occur;
* ensuring follow-up care with a primary care physician;
* facilitating patients' ownership of their personal health records.
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by
Kathy Wetters on
April 27, 2011
Hip fractures are among the most debilitating and expensive diagnoses to treat, but you can significantly improve outcomes and lower costs if you get hip-fracture patients into surgery quickly.
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