Articles of Interest
The following articles provide an opportunity to gain a broader depth of knowledge of care transitions.
Affordable Care Act Update: Implementing Medicare Cost Savings:
The Affordable Care Act reforms the Medicare program's payment and delivery systems to help drive system-wide cost savings and quality improvement. Cost-containment strategies resulting in 10-year projected savings are included in the article.
Hospital Readmission Among Participants in a Transitional Case Management Program:
The following article describes a study on the implementation of a telephonic transitional case management program (TCM) designed for patients discharged from an acute care facility. Results indicate an effective reduction in hospital readmissions.
Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey:
Medicare beneficiaries rate discharge planning as the greatest dissatisfaction score. This document is the actual HCAHPS survey, which defines survey questions. Note: questions 18, 19, and 20 as they relate to care transitions.
Effective Interventions to Reduce Rehospitalizations: A Compendium of 15 Promising Interventions:
A review of 15 promising interventions to reduce hospital readmissions. The article includes evidence-based effectiveness and rehospitalization results, identifies issues of complexity, and illustrates cost benefits.
Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
HealthReformGPS provides an overview and suggested items to monitor the Affordable Care Act. Categories of interest include definitions of readmissions, calculation of payment, and risk factors.
Rehospitalization Among Patients in the Medicare Fee-for-Services Program
This research methodology analyzes data from Medicare claims and patterns of rehospitalization. The authors provide a study of the relation of rehospitalization to demographic characteristics of the patients and to characteristics of the hospitals.
Preventing Hospital Readmissions: a $25 Billion Opportunity
This compact action brief by National Priorities Partnership provides a roadmap to identify opportunities to address readmissions, corresponding solutions, and drivers for change.
Health IT Tools Reduce Readmissions at Philadelphia Hospitals
This 18-month project reduced readmissions in 18 Philadelphia hospitals using electronic health records (EHRs). Results indicate a savings of $4 million for the third quarter of 2011.
Lessons from Medicare's Demonstration Projects on Disease Management, Care Coordination, and Value-Based Payment
This Congressional Budget Office article reviews outcomes of six disease management and care coordination demonstrations and four value-based purchasing demonstrations and recommendations for consideration to increase savings.
Family of Woman who Died After a Medical Error Joins Hospital's Safety Panel
A young woman dies from a medical error at a hospital. The family joins the Advisory Council of a Chicago hospital in an effort to improve patient safety.