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3 Readmissions to Reduce Now

Neal Gold, MD, Director, Sg2, for HealthLeaders Media, March 15, 2011

3. Prepare for Penalties Now
Although many questions remain about how Medicare’s readmission penalties will play out, including expected readmission rates per hospital and how penalties will be levied in a bundled payment program, there are still clear actions all health care organizations can and should take immediately, including the following:

  • Know your readmission metrics including original discharge disposition and origin of readmission
  • Calculate readmission rates by condition, physician performance and post acute care facility
  • Regularly share readmission data with key stakeholders, including physicians, senior executives and case management
  • Identify opportunities based on patient demographics and common readmissions
  • Screen and target patients based on risk assessments
  • Compare disease-specific outcome measures to national and local competitor rates.

Neal Gold, MD, is Director of Sg2.

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2 comments on "3 Readmissions to Reduce Now"


Chad E. Gay (7/15/2011 at 3:42 PM)
How is the percentage of readimissions above the expected rate for a specific hospital calculated?

Lisa Stansbury (3/15/2011 at 4:07 PM)
Reducing readmissions using health coaches is a low cost, low tech care coordination effort that has been a successful three-year effort sponsored by CMS. (We were a part of the project in Louisiana.) Free listening sessions for providers who want to learn more about how to do this are are being set up now by the Colorado Foundation for Medical Quality. You can also find free info at our Medicare QIO website or just DM me on twitter @eQHealth