The Opportunity
Reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and readmissions is
a key component of healthcare quality improvement. High rates of readmissions
are not only costly to the healthcare system, but they also can indicate
low-quality care during a prior hospital stay or poor care coordination. An
unnecessary hospitalization causes patients stress and can expose them to
additional medical risk. Certain strategies can succeed in reducing avoidable
admissions and readmissions rates, such as improved communication of patient
discharge instructions, coordination with post-acute care providers and primary
care physicians, and reducing complications such as hospital-acquired
conditions.1, 2
This opportunity to improve quality and lower cost has made
reducing unnecessary admissions and readmissions a focus of quality reporting
and value-based purchasing programs.
NQF Related Work
Stay Connected
For more information, please contact readmissions@qualityforum.org.
1
Boccuti C, Casillas G. Aiming for Fewer Hospital U-turns: the Medicare
Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. Washington, DC: Kaiser Family
Foundation (KFF); 2017. Issue Brief. Available at http://kff.org/medicare/issue-brief/aiming-for-fewer-hospital-u-turns-the-medicare-hospital-readmission-reduction-program/.
Last accessed March 2017.
2
McCarthy D, Cohen A, Johnson MB. Gaining Ground: Care Management Programs to
Reduce Hospital Admissions and Readmissions among Chronically Ill and
Vulnerable Patients. Washington, DC: Commonwealth Fund; 2013. Commonwealth
Fund pub. 1658. Available at https://www.pcpcc.org/sites/default/files/1658_McCarthy_care_transitions_synthesis_v2.pdf.
Last accessed July 2017.