Annually, 8,357,100 adults need long term care, including nursing facilities, home health, and hospice. Long term care is defined as care for adults who need assistance, medical and non-medical needs, such as with activities of daily living (ADLs) and administrative or financial tasks. The goal of long term care is to provide needed support to keep these individuals as comfortable and independent as possible, which includes avoiding hospital re-admissions.
The CMS Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) criteria for 2017 lists heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, COPD, hip/knee replacement and coronary artery bypass graft surgery as the conditions for which the HRRP will apply.
While not all readmissions can be avoided, there are statistics showing that many readmissions within 30 days of initial release may be avoidable. Below is a discussion of readmission statistics and proactive health measures.
Understanding 30-day Readmission Risks
Researchers have studied the risks of unplanned readmission within 30 days, especially in those 65 and older. Seniors are more likely to be beneficiaries of long term care and some readmissions are unavoidable. However, as this CMS report states that others are caused by poor quality or lack of coordination of care, lack of effective discharge planning and issues setting up transitional care.
For example, this report indicates that 21% of cancer patient readmissions were classified as potentially preventable with a significant portion being attributed to procedure complications and disease progression. While the overall rate of 30-day readmission after a hip fracture was much lower than cancer patients (9.35%), the most common reasons for going back to the hospital included infections such as pneumonia, urinary tract infections, Clostridium difficile enteritis, and surgical infections.
Services to Improve Quality of Care
While the payment reduction does not apply to your facility directly, it can impact the decision of your referring hospitals when deciding who to partner with in this portion of the patient care continuum.
Utilizing proper supplies and procedures can help avoid infections as well as respiratory and skin integrity issues. In addition, the use of proper equipment can reduce falls and injuries. A reliable supply distributor can provide professional assistance to help your facility with cost-effective quality medical products and maintain proper inventory levels.
Reducing 30-day hospital readmissions is not just a way to minimize reimbursement reductions for hospitals, but also improves patient quality care and your relationship with your referring hospitals.
Concordance Healthcare Solutions is happy to partner with you to provide quality products and value-added services to help in your efforts to reduce hospital readmissions within 30 days.
Click here to discover how having the right supplies at the right time can help.
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