Dive Brief:
- Detroit Medical Center has developed a new discharge process which has cut readmission rates. The name/process change -- discharges are now "transitions" -- seems to have worked; In January 2012 DMC's readmission rates were as high as 25%, but by August 2013 they were down to 15%.
- The eight- hospital has developed detailed descriptions of more than 30 steps along the way to discharge, with potential interventions. These now take place at specific points within the acute care stay, and begin the moment the patient is registered as an inpatient.
- One example: a day one step checks on whether patients have been admitted but in the past 90 days, and if so, what their prior transition diagnosis was. If the patient is a readmission, a team immediately comes in to analyze what went wrong in the past.
Dive Insight:
DMC's efforts make a whole lot of sense. After all, any time you want to improve a process -- such as hospital discharges -- you need to break it down and see where you're slipping. This is particularly the case for this health system, which serves an area where health literacy is poor and educational levels are lower than in many other big cities. Particularly given that they're working with patients who may not be great health advocates for themselves, seeing that the patient lands safely once they're gone could hardly be more important. This approach deserves to be adopted elsewhere.