5 Reasons Readmission Prevention Has Become a Top Priority
In past few years, many readmission-reduction solutions have been tested by healthcare organizations. Many show documented success — from the strengthening of relationships with home nursing specialists to investment in robust self-treatment strategies to the formation of readmission-prevention collaboratives among organizations.
Below are the top reasons why readmission prevention has become a top priority of medical providers:
- Readmission is expensive. According to 2014’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report, between January and November 2011, treatment costs associated with patients returning to medical centers within 30 days added up to more than $41 billion.
- Readmission is bad for the patient. Not only is it costly from an insurance standpoint, it also increased a patient’s risk for complication.
- Increased regulatory pressures. In an effort to make hospitals increase their readmission awareness, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) has implemented stricter regulatory guidelines designed to encourage readmission prevention.
- Hospitals suffer penalties. The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) has also put penalties in place, applying fines (up to 3 percent) to Medicare payments for every Medicare patient that is readmitted.
- Technology has made prevention easier. Technological advances including electronic healthcare records, remote monitoring and patient education tools have helped improve patient communication, education and monitoring, all of which help prevent readmission.
If issues such as reducing readmissions are of interest to you, you may want to consider pursuing a degree in healthcare administration.
