Essay On Hospital Readmissions

Health care personnel and quality improvement professionals are focusing their attention on identifying factors that are causing high rates of readmissions. This focus is being driven by the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program which was implemented as part of the Affordable Care Act. “Effective October 1, 2012, organizations with high 30-day readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia could see their annual hospital Medicare payments reduced by 1%, according to a final rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)”. (Clancey, 2013) Hospital readmissions are an increasing problem in hospitals across the country. Readmissions are not only costly but they jeopardize the health of the elderly who are at risk for loss of function, hospital-acquired infections, and other poor outcomes when hospitalized. While some hospital readmissions cannot be avoided, frequent readmissions of chronic disease can be prevented through proper

Brian Jack was granted funds from the AHRQ for research project on readmissions. “His research demonstrated that patients who are discharged from the hospital with a clear understanding of their after-care instructions are 30% less likely to be readmitted within 30 days or visit the emergency department than patients who lacked this information” (Clancey, 2013). Project BOOTH (Better Outcomes for Older adults through Safe Transitions) was developed to reduce readmission rates by offering resources and expert mentoring to clinicians, enhance patient and family education, and improve the flow of information to health care providers in the inpatient and outpatient setting. Another resource to reduce readmissions is the Patient Safety Organization. It offers clinicians and health care organizations the ability to voluntarily report, share and learn from patient safety information without fear of legal