The good news is that the rate of 30-day readmissions is going down in hospitals across the nation, according to a CMS report. The bad news is that fines are going up. CMS also added some new conditions to its readmission prevention list for 2015.
In October 2014 a record number of hospitals were fined for excessive care transitions. In total, CMS penalized some 2,610 hospitals, and will assess fines between October 2014 and September of this year. Through these penalties, the government has given hospitals sufficient incentive to revamp their processes with an eye on preventing readmissions and improving transitions.
A lot can go wrong when an elderly patient is discharged home, from medication errors to transportation problems or self-care comprehension issues. However, an organization can create a solid discharge and transition process by focusing on some simple elements.
After physicians treat them in the emergency department (ED), millions of patients each year head home to recover, but not all of them do so successfully. Many wind up needing to head right back to the hospital because something goes wrong and the discharge fails. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality to study this issue.
Each year the Office of Inspector General (OIG) outlines its enforcement priorities. Its 2015 Work Plan includes items case managers should have on their radar.
Considering the daily challenges homeless individuals face, their high readmission rate should be unsurprising. Properly managing one's health is difficult for those worried about where they will sleep or find their next meal.
