Hospitals Using Technology To Reduce Readmissions

FierceHealthIT (8/21, Dvorak) reports “high readmissions continue to be a thorn in the side of the healthcare industry, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announcing earlier this month that most hospitals will face some sort of Medicare penalty for excessive 30-day readmissions.” As a result, “as penalties continue to come down and costs continue to rise, providers are using all the tools at their disposal to combat the problem, with the goal of keeping patients healthy the most important of all.” Hospitals such as Cleveland Clinic are using technology to help “in this effort through initiatives such as a discharge readiness tool, a big data approach to identify patients at high risk for admissions and an effort engage them in their own care through patient portals, added Cynthia Deyling, Cleveland Clinic’s chief quality officer.”