Government
Medicare pilot program aims to lower hospital readmissions
■ The project will operate in more than a dozen communities in an effort to create seamless transitions to home health care for patients.
By Chris Silva — Posted May 1, 2009
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Washington -- Medicare has launched a new pilot program in 14 communities nationwide to help physicians and others refine delivery systems and eliminate unnecessary hospital readmissions. The project is rooted in the belief that far too many seniors are returning to hospitals -- with conditions that are preventable -- shortly after they've been discharged.
By promoting transitions from the hospital to home health care or skilled nursing care, the Care Transitions project also aims to create health care strategies that can be replicated elsewhere, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. On April 13, the agency announced the communities chosen for the program.
"Our data show that nearly one in five patients who leave the hospital today will be readmitted within the next month and that more than three-quarters of these readmissions are potentially preventable," said CMS Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera.
Care Transitions experts "will look in their own backyards" to ascertain why hospital readmissions occur, and they will then work on developing customized solutions to address the problems, said Barry M. Straube, MD, CMS chief medical officer and director of its Office of Clinical Standards & Quality.
The program in each of the communities will be led by a quality improvement organization. The QIOs will be directed to work with the communities to implement hospital and community systemwide interventions, interventions that target specific diseases or conditions, and interventions that target specific reasons for hospital admission. The project will continue through summer 2011.
Communities in the following regions have been selected to participate in the project: Tuscaloosa, Ala.; northwest Denver; Miami; metro Atlanta east; Evansville, Ind.; Baton Rouge, La.; greater Lansing area, Mich.; Omaha, Neb.; southwestern New Jersey; upper capitol region, New York; western Pennsylvania; Providence, R.I.; Harlingen, Texas; and Whatcom County, Wash.
More information about the project can be found online (link).
