3 strategies to reduce revenue hits from readmissions

Avoiding the readmissions penalties instituted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has an obvious and direct impact on a healthcare organization's revenue. In an effort to improve patient care and keep your organization’s revenue healthy, effective communication is essential.

There are several ways healthcare organizations can leverage a comprehensive communication strategy to improve collaboration that reduces readmissions. Here are three key components that will immediately impact your bottom line:

1. Improve patient discharge communications. One key element in preventing readmissions that touches all stakeholders is the quality of the patient's discharge instructions. Creating a more effective discharge experience for patients requires providing clear, easy-to-understand discharge instructions. Accomplishing this is not always a simple task given that the instructions typically are compiled from a large set of data feeds, are gathered from multiple treating physicians and need to be provided in language the patient can understand. Health IT can play a critical role in overcoming these hurdles. Note that it is important to have an archival process that enables the organization to prove that discharge instructions were complete and comprehensive. This avoids the potential for losing Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements in the event of an audit. Not having the ability to easily retrieve all relevant records exposes the healthcare organization to avoidable revenue loss.
2. Put precautions in place. An effective communication strategy puts precautions in place to flag potentially conflicting instructions resulting from a lack of coordination between clinical departments or treating physicians. For example, a patient may receive multiple discharge recommendations to use a medication, such as acetaminophen, that when combined would cause an unsafe dose. The failure to coordinate the information provided to a patient from disparate departments within the healthcare organization could lead to poor understanding of discharge instructions and a worsening of the patient’s condition. This, in turn, can result in avoidable readmissions.
3. Incentivize care providers. Leverage your healthcare organization's data to let providers and departments know how their readmission rates compare to their peers. Peer pressure is a motivator, as is tying readmission rate reductions to financial incentive programs.