Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » Exercise Programs » Robeson County an outlier when it comes to TB – The Robesonian

February 01, 2020

LUMBERTON Since beginning an effort in 2017 to reduce readmissions at Southeastern Regional Medical Center, the hospital has seen its most recent readmission rate drop below the national benchmark, and by some measurements even cut in half.

Reducing the hospitals rate of patients readmitted within 30 days of their last acute or observational stay is a national priority of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Were very proud of the work done by our team to address this issue, said Lori Dove, vice president of Post Acute Care Services. Southeastern Healths vision for patients is to receive the highest quality care available in the most appropriate settings, whether it be at home, primary care offices, or skilled facilities.

The CMS calculates benchmark readmission rates for individual hospitals based on the total number of patients and the number of acute patients, and then creates a ratio that compares the expected number of readmission patients and the actual number of patients who are readmitted for acute or observational stays.

Dr. Harmohan Singh has been the physician leader of the project and instrumental in its success.

When the hospital started this effort, the most recent 30-day readmission data was slightly over 15%, Singh said. That figure had dropped tremendously in the last two years. Now its closer to 10%. In terms of raw numbers, we might have seen 160 readmissions each month in 2017, and now we are seeing about 80. Our ratio that the CMS calculates was 1.12 at the beginning of 2017, and at the end of 2019, that ratio was 0.78.

This is the second year that SRMC has maintained a readmission rate below the benchmark. In December 2018, the ratio was 0.94.

Suzanne Jackson, director of Population Health at Southeastern Health, applauded Singhs efforts on this issue, as well as the other people inside and outside Southeastern Health who have been working together to lower readmissions. News of SRMCs readmission rate changes have led Jackson to speak at conferences at the state and national level about SRMCs success in tackling this issue.

This milestone is due to a physician-led quality initiative using system resources, including hospitalists, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, specialty clinics, skilled nursing facilities, the transitional care team, the Care Coordination department, diabetes education, emergency services, and community-based resources such as home health agencies, hospice agencies, transportation and spiritual networks, Jackson said. But the main driver from 2017 to date has been the physician-led peer-to-peer collaboration on a daily basis.

Singh begins by reviewing all the readmissions to the hospital each day.

I would find the barriers that had pushed them back into the hospital, Singh said. Perhaps they couldnt get their medicine, or go to a primary care visit, or there was a lack of support, and so on. Id analyze each admission, and wed put parameters in place, making changes as we went along. This started in March of 2017, and by June we started to see the rate go down.

Jackson said identifying the team to find the barriers was one step, followed by not allowing barriers to be excuses for lack of care. For example, if a patient had trouble getting medicine, the team would make the effort to see if the patient could qualify for charity care on their medication, or trade it out for a cheaper prescription. Here Southeastern Healths chronic care managers played a large role, for instance by helping patients get medications delivered to their homes, and by working with external resources to identify alternatives to the higher priced medications. Jackson said diabetic nurses have also been important in this process.

We started asking why instead of assuming, Jackson said. We learned from those questions and took more care at discharge, finding ways to offset barriers at the point of initiation. There was a learning curve, and theres still a lot of barriers, but our goal is to continue to include more community partnerships and collaborate with physician networks to grow our ability to overcome those barriers.

View original post here:
Robeson County an outlier when it comes to TB - The Robesonian

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » Exercise Programs » Robeson County an outlier when it comes to TB – The Robesonian