Efforts to Cut Hospital Readmission Rates Yielding Results
Posted on 08. Dec, 2009 in News Stories
As countries around the world grapple with the rising cost of health care and shortage of hospital beds, it is hard to ignore an interesting piece of data:
“Our data show that nearly one in five patients who leave the hospital today will be re-admitted within the next month, and that more than three-quarters of these re-admissions are potentially preventable,” said Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaide Services (CMS).
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That’s what prompted CMS to announce a pilot program called The Care Transitions Project back in April 13, 2009 to work to eliminate unnecessary hospital readmissions.
“Rather than focusing on one global problem and trying to apply a one-size-fits-all solution across the country, Care Transitions experts will look in their own backyards to learn why hospital re-admissions occur locally and how patients transition between health care settings,” said Dr. Barry Straube, Chief Medical Officer for CMS.
One of the 15 pilot sites launched by CMS was the Baton Rouge, La area. At that project, health coaches are sent to five area hospitals, working with high-risk patients as they are being discharged. These coaches, usually nurses, help coordinate a post-discharge plan which includes follow-up doctor visits and medication prescriptions.
DeeAnn Broussard with the Lousiana Health Care Review says that often, seniors backslide because they are not able to get a timely doctor’s appointment or lack the transportation to pick up medications.
Over the next month after discharge, the patients are checked up on by the health coaches to help address issues before the patient’s health condition worsens. If a problem needs attention, they help the patient get seen by a doctor quickly, instead of being scheduled many weeks out. Even something as simple as changing the dosage on a medication can help prevent hospital readmissions.
Before implementation of the program, the Baton Rouge area had a 30-day readmission rate of 18.8 percent among Medicare patients.
Targeting seniors older than 65 years old who have been hospitalized for congestive heart failure, heart attack, or pneumonia, approximately 145 patients have participated in the project from March to October. Readmission rate fell to less than 5 percent–just 7 patients.
What_the_heck
Dec 10th, 2009
Alright! Finally someone is using their brain. This sounds like a very promising program. I hope it keeps succeeding and then they can start to maybe branch it out to other communities.