Discharge Planning
RSSArticles
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Do your duty: Report all infections
Two leading federal agencies are warning hospitals and other facilities that they can be fined and denied Medicare funds if they are caught intentionally underreporting healthcare-associated infections.
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Educational programs target gaps in knowledge at SNFs, LTACH
When nurses at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital began using videoconferencing to hand off patients to nurses in a post-acute facility, the hospital team noticed that some of the nurses in the receiving facility often had gaps in knowledge.
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Video handoffs cut readmissions from post-acute providers
The readmission rate for patients being discharged from Oregon Health & Science University Hospital to a skilled nursing facility have dropped from 26% to 12% among patients whose handoffs were handled via videoconferencing.
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Partnership increases contact between patients, home health nurses
UCLA Health has formed a partnership with three home health agencies that agreed to increase the number of times home health nurses interact with patients after they are discharged from the hospital to home with home health services.
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Bed leasing program helps hospitals discharge hard-to-place patients
UCLA Health’s program that pays a negotiated daily rate to skilled nursing facilities to hold beds for patients who otherwise would stay in an acute care bed saved a total of 2,516 acute care days from June 2014 to July 2015.
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IMPACT Act levels the playing field on healthcare performance
The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act, which requires post-acute providers to compile and submit quality, performance, and resource use data, gives hospitals an opportunity to work closely with the providers to which they discharge patients.
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To prevent readmissions, think outside the hospital walls
Initiatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and commercial payers that penalize hospitals when patients are readmitted make it necessary for providers throughout the continuum to collaborate and ensure that patients get the care they need.
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Targeting low literacy patients pays off for health system
When an analysis of the cases of patients who were being readmitted showed that a significant number had low healthcare literacy and other social issues, the staff at Ochsner Health developed a project to identify the patients who need extra help in following their discharge plans.
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Team approach to readmission reductions pays off
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center has avoided readmission penalties for Medicare patients by launching a series of initiatives that tailor interventions to the individual patient.
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Take time to base the discharge plan on patients’ individual challenges
It’s a mistake to assume that every readmission could be prevented by better medical management. In fact, about half of all readmissions are attributed to social issues.