Amedisys Helps Hospital Partner Reduce Heart Failure Readmission Rate by 13% in One Year
Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), one of the nation’s leading health care
at home companies, released a case study today that highlights how it
helped Monongahela Valley Hospital (MVH) reduce its heart failure
readmissions by 13% in one year through a collaborative care model.
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which includes a
heightened focus on reducing avoidable readmissions, MVH, a community
hospital in western Pennsylvania, wanted to reduce its heart failure
readmission rate, which in 2010 was 27% - nearly 3% higher than the
national average.
MVH formed a collaborative including its case management team, an MVH
dietician and pharmacist, the Havencrest skilled nursing facility, the
Residence at the Hilltop personal care home and Amedisys Home Health
Care. Working together, the collaborative began to see a reduction in
heart failure readmissions as early as Q1 2011 – and reduced heart
failure readmission rate by 13% in one year.
“We at Amedisys believe strongly that collaboration with post-acute care
partners including implementation of effective care transitions of
patients from acute care settings back home can help patients better
manage their chronic conditions such as heart failure,” stated Dr.
Michael Fleming, Chief Medical Officer for Amedisys. “The MVH
collaborative is proof that post-acute care is mission critical for
reducing avoidable hospital readmission.”
Key learnings from the study include medication reconciliation between
cross-settings is essential; the majority of heart failure patients
require post-hospital intervention in the home; sharing a transfer
summary across settings greatly improves communication; pre-determined
standing protocols across the continuum make an impact; and it takes a
community working together to reduce 30-day readmissions.
To view a case study on how Amedisys helped MVH reduce its heart failure
readmission rate, please click
here.
About Amedisys:
Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED) is a leading health care at home company
delivering personalized home
health and hospice
care to more than 360,000 patients each year. Amedisys is focused on
delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is
home-based recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury,
care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease, palliative
care for those with a terminal illness, or hospice care at the end of
life. The Company's state-of-the-art advanced chronic care management
programs and leading-edge technology enables it to deliver quality care
based upon the latest evidence-based best practices. Amedisys is a
recognized innovator, being one of the first in the industry to equip
its clinicians with point-of-care laptop technology and referring
physicians with an internet portal that enables real-time coordination
of patient care seamlessly. Amedisys also has the industry's first-ever
nationwide Care Transitions program, designed to reduce unnecessary
hospital readmissions through patient and caregiver health coaching and
care coordination, which starts in the hospital and continues throughout
completion of the patient's home health plan of care. For more
information about the Company, please visit: http://www.amedisys.com.