Vanderbilt, St. Thomas West Invest in Care Transition, See Readmissions Decline

Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Saint Thomas West Hospital, both in Nashville, will see declines in their readmissions penalties, thanks their commitments to transition-based readmissions programs, according to a report from the Nashville Business Journal.

Vanderbilt's penalty will drop from .6 percent in 2012 to .11 percent this year, and Saint Thomas West's penalty will drop from .82 percent in 2012 to .43 percent this year.

Both hospitals have put resources into streamlining patient care transitions between inpatient stays and home. Vanderbilt has focused on addressing discharge-related issues earlier on in each patient's stay, while Saint Thomas West has placed an emphasis on assigning patients staff guides for their transition process.  

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