What straightforward tactic should clinical and operational leaders consider to make an impact on mortality and readmissions in fairly short order?
Prioritize appointments within 7-14 days of discharge for high-risk patients.
Watch this video as HDAI’s CEO Nassib Chamoun shares an example of how this strategy is working at a major academic medical center.
Video by Nassib Chamoun
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Full Transcript:
Simple solution.
And that is focus on patients as they leave the hospital to identify those who are higher risk for mortality and re-admission and target those patients with priority follow-up within seven to 14 days. If we can focus on the highest risk patients for mortality and re-admission and prioritize their follow-up for one to two weeks after they leave the hospital, the impact on mortality and re-admissions is going to be enormous.
Let me give you an example. In one of the partners we work with, for every 20 patients they visited with within two weeks, they saved the life. For every seven patients they visited with within two weeks, they reduced the re-admission. If you look at the lower risk patients that they saw that impact was several times less.
So, the solution is simple. Let’s prioritize the high-risk patients for that one week to two-week follow-up and let’s still see the lower risk patients within the three-to-four-week timeframe. In the end, you’ll still end up seeing about half your patients. You’re just seeing the right patients where the opportunity to make an impact for them and for the system is going to be substantially greater.
