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Invasive medical treatments and hospitalizations can be mentally and physically taxing for any adult, but in particular for geriatric populations. I’ve seen firsthand how unfamiliar settings, loss of control, and lack of understanding can cause aging patients great distress and even unmask previously unidentified cognitive problems. Needless to say, it can be a difficult experience. So, one can only imagine the relief of patients and families when told they can go home.
Being discharged after a hospital stay certainly signifies the end of a perilous chapter. But the next chapter is equally as critical. Without effective communication, patient follow-up, and care team collaboration, there is an increased chance patients will end up back in the hospital.
Not only are readmissions emotionally devastating to patients and their loved ones, they are a huge problem for providers. To provide some context in numbers—it’s estimated that the annual cost of Medicare hospital readmissions is $26 billion, and $17 billion of that is considered avoidable*. As part of the Affordable Care Act, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken steps to curb bounce-back patients by issuing penalties for hospitals that meet the criteria of “excessive” readmissions for certain conditions. However, in the third year since these penalties were set, a record 75% of hospitals in the program were impacted.
Obviously readmissions are a lose-lose for patients and providers. Which begs the question, how can we prevent them? Many hospital leaders have developed programs to address issues within their organization. For example, improving discharge processes have helped lower readmission rates, but not significantly enough. As it turns out, the Harvard Business Review, backed by six years of data, has recently indicated that better communication between caregivers and patients can have the largest impact on reducing readmissions.
I couldn’t agree more.
This is why I am so excited about Salesforce Health Cloud. With it, the entire care network—hospitalists, specialists, rehabilitation nurses, home care providers, family members, and the patients themselves—can securely communicate and collaborate with each other throughout the recovery process.
Health Cloud enables hospital care coordinators to view each patient’s progress and ensure they are adhering to care plans. Patients can track their goals as well with the help of personalized reminders. And post-acute care providers can access past health records, as well as current medications, diet restrictions, follow-up appointments, rehabilitation requirements, and so on. I find this particularly important because in clinical settings we often see that small details, if missed, spiral into very large problems quickly.
I have no doubt that by focusing more on patient-centered care and improving communication across healthcare professionals, caregivers, and patients, we can drive down readmission rates. Organizations will have to go beyond traditional measures, and embrace new innovation. And for those that do, the rewards will be well worth the investment. As the Chief Medical Officer at Salesforce, I’m proud to be part of a health IT platform that has the power to impact people’s lives in such a profound way.
