At a recent Curaspan Knowledge Exchange event in Florida, Stephen Jencks, MD, MPH, a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, discussed the importance of moving beyond a "hospital-centric framework" and into the community to reduce hospital readmissions.
Hospital administrators must have a "community-centered understanding," he said, explaining, "Most important is the idea that it is not just that the patient leaves the hospital and goes to the community. It's that information leaves the hospital and goes to the community, and that information comes back to the hospital from the community. This is feedback. This is how you improve what you do when you send a patient out."
Despite the importance of feedback from other providers in the community, Dr. Jencks argues few hospitals have formal feedback loops with other providers, such as hospice and long-term acute care providers. He advocates partnerships among providers in a community — something that is lacking in most communities today. He explained:
To listen to a podcast of the presentation, click here.
Process of Care Measures Not Linked to Reduced Readmissions, Study Suggests
Nearly Half of Pediatric Admissions Stem From General, Neurosurgery Procedures
Hospital administrators must have a "community-centered understanding," he said, explaining, "Most important is the idea that it is not just that the patient leaves the hospital and goes to the community. It's that information leaves the hospital and goes to the community, and that information comes back to the hospital from the community. This is feedback. This is how you improve what you do when you send a patient out."
Despite the importance of feedback from other providers in the community, Dr. Jencks argues few hospitals have formal feedback loops with other providers, such as hospice and long-term acute care providers. He advocates partnerships among providers in a community — something that is lacking in most communities today. He explained:
Understanding community is not new for hospitals. What is new is the need for partnerships within that community. The community shifts from where people flow in out to a set of partners you actively work with. That's an enormous challenge for some hospitals. My personal suspicion is the hospitals' ability to succeed with that challenge is going to be the difference between hospitals that really succeed over the next 10 years and those that find that it's all too much for them.To view an excerpt of his presentation, which appears in Curaspan's monthy newsletter, "Curaspan Connections," click here.
To listen to a podcast of the presentation, click here.
More Articles on Readmissions:
4 Pillars of Post-Discharge Patient CareProcess of Care Measures Not Linked to Reduced Readmissions, Study Suggests
Nearly Half of Pediatric Admissions Stem From General, Neurosurgery Procedures