Niagara Falls (N.Y.) Memorial Medical Center is guaranteeing patients access to a primary care physician within seven days of a hospitalization, according to local radio station WBFO.
The hospital will not only connect patients to a primary care office upon discharge, but also check in with them about their care over the following three weeks.
"We have evidence and research to show that people who get reconnected to primary care in seven days, very few of them get readmitted to the hospital," Sheila Kee, COO of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, told WBFO. "We can dramatically reduce readmission rates."
The hospital has recruited five new primary care physicians in the last year and upgraded its computer systems to support this care strategy, according to Ms. Kee.