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Bill aims to cut hospital readmission rates

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Medicare Care Transition Act of 2009
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A Senator from Colorado has introduced a bill intended to cut down on hospital readmission rates by improving after-hospitalization care and follow-up Medicare patients receive.

The Medicare Care Transitions Act of 2009 would create a national network of community-based transitional "care coaches" tasked with helping patients self-manage their condition and medications. They'd do this by providing personal follow-up care and helping patients transition from one care setting to another. Ideally, these coaches would improve care quality and cost-effectiveness while reducing readmission rates.

If the bill can achieve its objective, it could make a significant impact. According to one recent study, unplanned rehospitalizations for Medicare beneficiaries accounted for $17.4 billion of the $102.6 billion Medicare paid hospitals in 2004.

To learn more about this bill:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece

Related Articles:
Study: Patient education saves money by cutting readmissions, ER visits
Nurse decision-support reduces re-admissions
Hospitals say emphasis on readmission rates could hit them hard

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I fear that "health" insurance companies mean to have "disease management" personnel call discharged patients, to evaluate their risk for readmission. I've been one of those at Wellpoint, and "the company line" is followed to the detriment of patients.
Home Health R.N. visits are essential for post operative, CVD, diabetic,and psychiatric patients,
especially. Face to face evaluation is essential
to monitor compliance, nosocomoal infection and continued recovery.
Also, the care received in hospital (actually the lack thereof) is the most common reason for readmission, due to physician error. I was recently hospitalized for gastric bleeding, admitted by ambulance after 8 hours of decreasing stamina. Then no one saw me, in the ER while I continued to bleed for 2 more hours. My H&Hs were on the floor, yet the doctors (3) who were "hospitalists there forgot (?) to order the well established bleeding scan that would have revealed the source of it. The endoscopy didn't find it, and within the past month, due to a past episode 5 years before, I'd had another upper and lower endoscopies, and swallowed the camera (hope it passed). All had been negative, which I told the admitting professionals.
At discharge, following 2 transfusions, I was told by the hospitalist of the day that my potassium was low - however the promised medication/prescription wasn't provided; and I was told to ask for "a nuclear bleeding scan the next time this happens". Isn't that just a readmission waiting to happen!!??

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