Detroit, MI – Data recently released shows that eleven hospitals that participated in the Southeast Michigan "See You in 7" hospital collaborative reduced readmissions for heart failure patients significantly more than other hospitals in the state. These hospitals reduced 30-day heart failure readmissions by 9.47 percent, while hospitals across the state experienced a 4.86 percent reduction during the same period.
The Greater Detroit Area Health Council (GDAHC) partnered with the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and MPRO, Michigan's Quality Improvement Organization, to launch the southeast Michigan "See You in 7" Hospital Collaborative. The purpose of the year-long collaborative was to improve the early follow-up processes for heart failure patients with the goal of reducing readmissions for these patients. This was the first pilot project in the country based on the ACC's "See You in 7" Hospital to Home (H2H) process measures.
"The success of this project demonstrates the benefits of community collaboration," said Lisa Mason, Vice President of Cost Quality at GDAHC. "GDAHC is proud to have established the collaboration that achieved these outstanding results."
Examples of interventions that hospitals implemented include developing a program for follow-up phone calls to patients after they are discharged, providing a list of transportation resources for patients who have difficulty getting to their follow-up appointment, and streamlining the process of identifying heart failure patients prior to leaving the hospital.
Participating hospitals included Beaumont-Grosse Pointe, Crittenton Hospital and Medical Center, Garden City Hospital, Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, McLaren – Macomb, Providence Hospital, St. John Macomb-Oakland Hospital, St. John Hospital and Medical Center, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Ann Arbor, St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, and the VA Ann Arbor Health Care System.
The project was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded to GDAHC as the recipient of the RWJF Aligning Forces for Quality grant. In the spirit of that grant, GDAHC spearheaded community collaboration by inviting the ACC, MPRO and the member hospitals to participate in this valuable initiative.