Follow-up care, nursing vital to reducing readmissions

Are you keeping track of the makeup of your patient population? What about transitional care, does your hospital have a sound policy in place? If not, then you may not be doing everything you can to lower readmission rates for your facility, which not only can be dangerous for your patients, but also could wind up costing you millions in lost federal reimbursement dollars (or state dollars for those based in Massachusetts). 

To that end, Becker's Hospital Review this week highlights 10 proven methods for keeping your patients from becoming repeat customers. Among the most helpful: 

  • Teaming up with payers in incentive programs, which reward hospitals for reducing infection and readmission rates. As the industry shifts more toward accountable care models, the number of such partnerships is likely to grow. 
  • Ensuring prompt patient follow-up and clearly communicating discharge instructions. The more detailed a patient's discharge instructions, the more likely they'll be satisfied with their care and thus take their follow-up seriously. Specifically, Becker's notes that patients who schedule follow-up appointments for seven days later are less likely to be readmitted to the hospital. What's more, the article points out the success of a patient education program started by UCSF Medical Center that calls on patients to repeat information they have been taught about their care upon being discharged. While it may sound simple, the program helped to reduce readmission rates for elderly heart failure patients by 30 percent. 
  • Properly utilizing nurses also is vital to lowering readmission rates. That means making sure nurses are scheduled to minimize overtime. A study highlighted by Becker's from Health Services Research correlated non-OT nurse staffing with decreased emergency room visits, pointing to "discharge teaching quality" as a key. 

For more suggestions to reduce readmissions:
- read the full Becker's Hospital Review article

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