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View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
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View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
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View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
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View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThis blog post excerpts an article in the Q3 2015 issue of PX Advisor, our quarterly magazine designed to bring you thought leadership and best practices for improving the patient experience.
Comments on Readmissions from Michael S. Oleksyk MD, FACP, CPE, CMPE; Vice President of Medical Affairs, Chief Medical Officer, Practicing Hospitalist; Baptist Health Care, Pensacola, FL
With so many priorities for 2015, how important is reducing readmissions? How much effort do you see focused in this area?
I think hospitals take this initiative very seriously. It is definitely on their radar screens because of the high financial penalties that are involved. We are aggressively looking at ALL 30-day readmissions, not just the five diagnoses targeted by CMS. We are routinely watching our rates as part of our on-going physician quality monitoring.
What is your opinion of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP)?
I’ve been in practice for more than 30 years, and this is actually something that is overdue. We shouldn’t be rewarded for poor quality or unsafe care. But there are a lot of gray areas in the program too. For example, we shouldn’t be penalized for unavoidable readmissions or when the readmission is unrelated to the initial inpatient visit.
What are the key steps hospitals should take to reduce readmissions? What do you see working?
The key is to take multiple steps to prevent a readmission. We need to be focused on plans for discharge as soon as the patient is admitted. You can’t wait until the day before. You need to try to have everything in place before the patient leaves the hospital. There also needs to be good communication all around. Physicians, nurses, case managers, social workers, therapists, family members, and the patient all need to work together during the patient stay to address all of the patient’s post-discharge needs. We also need to be in contact with the pharmacy department to make sure they can support any unusual medications that the patient might need upon discharge. Finally, we try to ensure that there is prompt discharge follow-up with the primary care physician and other post-acute organizations that might be involved. We know there is a strong relationship with how soon the patient sees their primary care physician and readmission rates.
What impact is the HRRP having on hospitalists?
We have to be heavily involved in efforts to reduce readmissions. We can’t just sit back and let others work around us. Some 70% of our patients are followed by a hospitalist, with 15% - 20% of these being cardiology patients, so we are covering a lot of patients that may be at high risk of readmission. It doesn’t look good on our records when one of our patients is readmitted. It’s embarrassing and inherently wrong to have patients be readmitted because they couldn’t get the necessary medicine or the appropriate follow-up care.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products