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An Upcoming Solution — New from Pharos Innovations
Pharos Innovations will soon release its new solution to an ever-growing problem. Transitions — From Hospital to Home will bridge the gap between acute and post-acute care for measurable reductions in hospital readmissions. Designed primarily for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in transition from an inpatient hospital stay to a non-acute setting such as home, independent living, skilled nursing, etc., Transitions will provide daily monitoring of adherence to and understanding of discharge plan, medication compliance and physician appointment follow-through.

The Need

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the medical care costs of individuals with chronic conditions account for more than 75% of our nation’s $2 trillion medical care costs.

Part of the exorbitant healthcare costs is due to the changes in hospital admission rates and discharge practices. Patients with complex health needs are being discharged from hospitals earlier, in part due to pressures on hospitals to reduce average lengths of stay because of continued growth of DRG (diagnosis related groups) and capitated reimbursement for inpatient care.

Given this motivation for early and possibly premature discharge, it is no surprise that our country’s hospital readmission rates are increasing as well and playing a significant role in the cost increase.¹ A literature review published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that:

• Between 9% and 48% of all readmissions are associated with substandard care standards such as unstable therapy at discharge and inadequate post-discharge care
  
• One-third of readmissions occur with one month of discharge, one-half within 90 days and 80% within one year²

The Opportunity

Fortunately, there is evidence that post-acute care coordination can be improved to greatly reduce average lengths of stay and readmissions. In fact, a literature review of studies on hospital readmissions showed that 12% to 75% of all readmissions can be prevented by patient education, pre-discharge assessment and at-home aftercare². Some additional findings include:

• In a Pharos-led pilot within a statewide Medicaid population, remote patient monitoring helped virtually eliminate 30-day readmissions for patients with heart failure
• Findings from the randomized clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that with post-discharge home follow-up and monitoring focusing on medications, symptom management, diet, activity, sleep, medical follow-up and emotional status, hospital readmissions were avoided — only 20.3% readmissions were reported (versus 37% for the control group) and only 6.2% (versus 14.5% in the control group) had multiple readmissions.¹

 

 

¹Comprehensive Discharge Planning and Home Follow-Up of Hospitalized Elders: A Randomized Clinical Trial, M. Naylor, D. Brooten, R. Campbell, et al, JAMA 1999

²Hospital Readmissions as a Measure of Health Quality, J. Benbassat, M. Taragin, Archives of Internal Medicine, April 24, 2000

Contact us at Pharos@pharosinnovations.com for more information about how this exciting new program can help improve your financial performance through better post-hospitalization care.