The Challenge
Your Problem
CMS penalizes hospitals for excessive readmissions. You know which conditions drive the highest readmission rates. You have discharge planning processes in place. But the gap between a well written discharge plan and a patient who actually follows it is enormous.
Post discharge patients face a collision of new medications, unfamiliar instructions, follow up appointments that need scheduling, and the stress of recovery at home. Most organizations attempt a follow up call within a few days, check the boxes, and move on. But a single call doesn’t resolve the medication confusion, the missed follow up, or the worsening symptom that should have triggered a call back to the clinic instead of a return to the ED.
Your care transition team is managing this alongside everything else. The patients who need the most support during those 30 days are often the ones who get the least, because they’re the ones who are hardest to reach and take the longest to help.
