A five-measure framework for indicating quality of care in transitions for patients with complex conditions may help drive improvements in care, according to an article published in the British Medical Journal of Quality and Safety.
Researchers identified 119 quality measures for complex care transitions from the literature, and a panel of experts discussed and ranked the suggestions, creating a framework from the five best measures.
The measures include 30-day readmissions rates, primary care visits within one week of discharge (high-risk patients only), medication reconciliation at admission and before discharge, readmissions within 72 hours and time between discharge and homecare nursing (high-risk patients only).
Researchers suggest this framework will improve the quality of medical care in transition stages for patients with complex conditions, though the usefulness of the measures in this particular combination has yet to be tested.
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