Hospital Readmission

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Hospital Readmission

Introduction

            Health care readmission tends to be the episode when the patient who had been previously discharged from the health facility is admitted again within a  particular tie interval. The rates of readmission have been used recently in the health care services research as a tool that is used to measure the quality of health care services. The health care readmission rates were included in the reimbursement decision for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a segment of the patient protection and affordable care Act of the year 2010, which focuses on punishing health care systems which have high and expected rates of readmission through the use of the  Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. Following the introduction of this penalty, several other programs have been introduced in order to minimize the health care readmission rate. Some of the programs that have been developed are The Community Based Care Transition Program, Independence At Home Demonstration Program as well as the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative. Also, the health care facility and programs tends to use different time frames to measure the rate of readmission, and the ordinary time frame used is within 30 days of discharge.   This research paper will how health care readmission may impact a health facility both negatively when it is high and decisive when it is low(Al-Amin, 2016). Health care readmission has contributed to increased cost in health care provision and a the same time it lowers the quality and patient satisfaction on the health care services provided to him or her.

Hospital readmission as a health issue

            Every health facility’s primary goal is to provide its patients with quality and satisfactory health care services. Health care that offers its patients with quality and adequate health care services it presents itself with the opportunity of improving its quality of services and also be able to increase the satisfaction of its patient population. The readmission rate in the health care facility and the cost of readmission tend to differ based on the age and the severity of the ailment of the patient. Primarily readmission tends to increase the health care cost, and at the same time, it reduces the quality and satisfactoriness of the healthcare services. Following a MedPAC’s report obtained in the year 2007 the Congress was able to identify that about 18% of the Medicare patient had been readmitted to their respective health care facilities within 30 day period of discharge, the readmission for the patients accounted for about $15 billion(Al-Amin, 2016). This asserts that patients tend to suffer both poor quality health care services as well as high cost in health care.

 Health care readmissions or returns may, but they  tend to develop a significant set back for the patient. The primary reason  for the numerous readmission in the health care facilities is contributed by medical errors, failure of the treatment plan, defects in care, shortcomings in preparing the patients and their families the health care outside the health facility(Lackey, 2015). If the health care facilities do not continue researching on ways to provide quality care to the patients by reducing the rate of readmission the health care cost will always remain high while the quality of health care cost continues to be reduced.

Significance of hospital readmission to the nursing

             Many patients tend to be in and out of the hospital, primarily about 20% of  Medicare patients; they are often readmitted within 30 days. The main reason for this frequent readmission is the inability to create discharge processes which are of quality standard, minimal preparation of patients and families for the discharge, poor communication and minimum education to he patients in regards to the essentialness of the treatment approach.  Several studies tend to link the increasing rate of readmission with inadequate follow up by the primary care providers and other concerned healthcare facilities(Ballard-Hernandez, 2010). It is often essential for the patient to be provided with a follow-up appointment within 2 to 7 days after discharge. Nurses tend to play a significant role in ensuring the rate of readmission in the facility has reduced.

Nurses have often developed relationships with patients, and it is their duty to provide the enlightenment to patients regarding the essentialness of a timely follow-up. Nurse tend to be critical players in the healthcare team. Thus they are required to have a clear and better understanding of the continues care program. The knowledge of nurses plays a significant role in the development of approaches that may be used to develop a follow as well as continuous care in order to limit readmission, promote practical usage of resources and also be able to reduce cost. Currently, several health facilitates are often engaging their patients with health training before discharging them in order to reduce the rate of readmission. A health facility that tends to establish a nursing unit that is skilled has the ability to improve health care coordination as well as quality(Ballard-Hernandez, 2010). Following efficient communication, planning, education as well as coordination the nurses and the Nurse case Managers may be able to reduce hospital readmission effectively. From the point of admission, the nurses may mitigate the risk of readmission at several points during the predischarge and the post-discharge periods through; appropriately determining the patient’s readiness for discharge. By compiling a comprehensive and accurate discharge summary. Through helping to determine an appropriate post-discharge care setting. Through coordinating care with multiple settings and providers, involving the patient and family caregivers in the plan of care as well as conducting post-discharge follow-up phone calls.

Purpose of the Research

            The main aim of this research paper is to develop an understanding of how health care readmission may be reduced to improve quality and also reduce the health care cost. The research will focus on the development of strategies that may enhance the quality of health care through education of the patients regarding the essentialness of a follow- up after discharge. Nurses play a significant role in ensuring that quality health care services have been administered to the patients(Bottle, Aylin, & Bell, 2013). The research also seeks to focus on understanding how nurse may contribute to ensuring that the hospital readmissions rate is reduced. The research paper also seeks to examine how communication minimizes the frequency of readmission. It will focus on how communication may improve the collaboration between the Professional Care Providers, the home health care agencies, among other agencies that are responsible for a successful discharge of the patient. Information exchange among these agencies during transitional care may aid in the reduction of hospital readmission

Research Question

            Health care readmission is often regarded to be an essential tool for measuring the quality of the health care services that particular health care services provider. It is not quite easy to measure quality based on readmission rate of the patient, but it tends to make more sense that a patient tends to be readimitted because the services he was provided with were not of high quality hence not being able to meet his or her health needs. Often readmission is caused by adverse outcomes from a previous treatment(Axon & Williams, 2011). Thus, the research topic  for this  paper is, “Does the rate of readmission in the health facility accurately measure the quality of health services provided by the health care facility?”

Master’s Essentials that aligned with your topic

            Master essentials often provide nurses with valuable skills as well as the knowledge that aids them to change, promote, and improve the different roles in the healthcare setting. The master’s essentials tend to align with the research topic that I chose are the quality improvement and safety- this essential aligns with my problem because it focuses on aspects that may be implemented to assist in the advancement of a health care service as well as reduce the health care cost. Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes is another essential that aligns to my research topic- this primary focuses at developing sufficient teamwork among the health care providers in order to improve the quality of health care service. Informatics and Healthcare Technologies is the last master’s essential that relates to my research topic- this topic mainly focuses on the ability to use information technology to promote quality and satisfactory health care services..

References

Al-Amin, M. (2016). Hospital characteristics and 30-day all-cause readmission rates. Journal of Hospital Medicine, 11(10), 682-687. doi:10.1002/jhm.2606

Axon, R. N., & Williams, M. V. (2011). Hospital Readmission as an Accountability Measure. JAMA, 305(5), 504. doi:10.1001/jama.2011.72

Ballard-Hernandez, J. (2010). Nurse practitioners improving the transition from hospital to home and reducing acute care readmission rates in heart failure patients. Heart & Lung, 39(4), 365-366. doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2010.05.031

Bottle, A., Aylin, P., & Bell, D. (2013). Predictors of Readmission in Heart Failure Patients Vary by Cause of Readmission: Hospital-Level Cause-Specific Readmission Rates Show No Correlation. 2013 IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics. doi:10.1109/ichi.2013.88

Lackey, T. L. (2015). How transitional care can be the answer to reducing hospital readmission. Heart & Lung, 44(6), 557-558. doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2015.10.035

 

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