Dive Brief:
- Houston-based Memorial Hermann began tackling needless readmissions almost a decade ago, well ahead of CMS-related pressures to reduce them.
- At the time, the hospital was struggling with hundreds of millions in annual uncompensated care with a population that ran as high as 33% uninsured.
- To lower readmission rates, Memorial Hermann developed a comprehensive program to manage high-risk patients, addressing poor communications among providers, a lack of accountability and follow through and inadequate human and IT resources.
Dive Insight:
Focusing on readmissions certainly makes sense, given both CMS pressure to reduce them and the high cost of frequent stays by the uninsured. The question is whether other hospitals are ready to stop and do a thorough analysis of readmission patterns and take action, even if their plans ruffle clinicians' feathers. Ideally, every hospital would have a comprehensive plan in place to make sure patients get what they need in the community, but for the time being it seems that a piecemeal approach is the best we can hope for, given the other challenges hospital leaders face.