December 9th, 2009

Reports the Associated Press via PennLive:

Talk about unnecessary misery: One in five Medicare patients winds up back in the hospital within a month-even worse, one in four patients with heart failure.

A major push is under way around the country to cut rehospitalizations, in part by arming patients with simple steps to keep their recovery on track-like getting past harried receptionists for quicker follow-up doctor visits, and reducing medication confusion.

Less than a year into a Medicare-sponsored “Care Transitions” project in 14 states, participating hospitals already are seeing readmissions start to inch down, says Dr. Barry Straube, chief medical officer of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

One of those projects, in Baton Rouge, La., sends health coaches to five area hospitals to guide high-risk patients through discharge and check how they’re faring through that critical first month. Of the first 145 patients coached so far, only seven had to be rehospitalized.

The key: Support, so that weakened seniors don’t backslide merely because they couldn’t get a timely doctor’s appointment or had no ride to the drugstore to pick up a prescription, says coach DeeAnn Broussard with Louisiana Health Care Review, a quality-improvement company leading the project.

Find out more at PennLive.