Hospital group lowers readmission rates 7%

A group of 29 area hospitals participating in a regional patient safety improvement project were able to reduce readmission rates by 7 percent — preventing 400 unneeded hospitalizations and saving $3.8 million in unnecessary health-care spending — in the third quarter of the year. Those findings were part of a survey summary report released Tuesday by The Health Care Improvement Foundation. An affiliate of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, the foundation is an independent nonprofit organization that leads health-care initiatives aimed at improving the safety, outcomes, and care for health-care consumers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Independence Blue Cross is a major supporter.