Welcome to the June Issue of HIIN The Know ! This month, we take another look at the topic of readmissions.   Preventable readmissions are considered patient harm events due to the physical and emotional setbacks patients experience. So, it is not just for financial reasons that Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN) hospital engagement continues to focus on reducing readmissions.   During the last several years, many hospitals have reached and even exceeded the goal of reducing their all-cause readmission rates by 20 percent. Building on those accomplishments, the current HIIN goal is to reduce readmissions by an additional 12 percent. Our HIIN resources provide analytic data to help you pinpoint the specific causes for readmissions, tools that empower a person-centered approach to planning continuum care, and successful strategies from hospitals.   With the assistance of your HIIN Clinical Improvement Advisor, please take another look at your hospital readmission cases and use the data analysis to help you find trends. Let HSAG HIIN help you identify the best tools and strategies to fit your needs so that together we can reach another threshold of harm reduction in reduced readmissions.

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HSAG HIIN Hospitals' Readmissions Due to Specific Conditions

The information below indicates the percentage of HSAG HIIN readmissions due to specific conditions.

Conditions and procedures included above are in your Hospital Readmissions Reports on the HSAG HIIN Data Portal.

Improvement Tools & Resources

HSAG HIIN Readmissions Field Guide This guide contains valuable readmissions information, including the harm impact of readmissions, the readmissions measure, known improvement strategies, patient and family education strategies, and specific resources for hospitals. Click here to view the field guide.

HSAG HIIN Readmissions Reduction Tool This tool serves as an analytic decision tree to determine the root causes of readmissions and appropriate interventions to continuously reduce preventable readmissions. Click here to view the readmissions reduction tool.

AHRQ Health Literacy Tools These tools from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) allow direct comparison of health literacy in speakers of English and Spanish. Use these tools for research, clinical, or program planning purposes. Click here to view AHRQ health literacy tools.

HRET HIIN Change Package This Health Research & Education Trust (HRET) HIIN change package can improve patient quality care and reduce readmissions. The change package offers guidance on improving strategies, change concepts, and specific action items. Click here to view the change package.

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The Data Advantage Corner

Hospital Readmissions Reports Now Available! The Hospital Readmissions Report provides a summary of your hospital’s Medicare FFS readmissions data through Q4 2017 and provides overall and stratified readmission rates, allowing your hospital to identify key areas of focus and improvement. To access your Hospital’s Readmissions Report, select the Reports tab on the HSAG HIIN Secure Data Portal .   Coming Soon—HAI Reports To continue monitoring progress on healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), HSAG HIIN will disseminate another HAI Feedback Report later this month. The feedback report provides an overall summary of HAI measures, allowing your hospital to identify critical areas of focus and improvement to support progress toward the bold aims of the Partnership for Patients HIIN program.

Upcoming Events and Education

Safety Across the Board (SAB) Webinar Series Session 2: Developing a Safety Culture Tuesday, June 19, 2018 12 noon to 1 p.m. PDT Session 3: Team Communication Tuesday, July 17, 2018 12 noon to 1 p.m. PDT Session 4: Engagement at all Levels Tuesday, August 21, 2018 12 noon to 1 p.m. PDT Session 5: The Power of Transparency Tuesday, September 11, 2018 12 noon to 1 p.m. PDT

PFE Think Tank Tuesday, June 27, 2018 12 noon to 1 p.m. PDT

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News and Networking

Tell us about a best practice or noteworthy story you would like to share with the HSAG HIIN community. What you do makes a difference, so please share! One Organization's Readmissions Improvement Best Practices St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, California, has created improvement strategies that can help reduce your hospital's readmissions. Click here to view the strategies and best practices used by St. Rose Hospital to reduce avoidable readmissions.

New Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing Program

Statewide data continue to demonstrate that a significant proportion of readmissions come from our skilled nursing facility (SNF) partners. On October 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin implementing incentives and penalties to SNFs for 30-day hospital readmission performance, providing strong rationale for facilities to coordinate care.  Hospitals should work together with post-acute partners to assure: A warm hand off (person-to-person), exchanging all the information required to continue the level of care needed, with attention to each patient’s vulnerabilities. Mechanisms to identify and address changes in conditions with adequate and timely diagnostic consultation.    The HSAG HIIN data portal provides hospitals with quarterly updates that demonstrate their own trends in readmissions cases (i.e., what discharge dispositions require the greatest focus; what index admission diagnoses tend to more problematic; and if readmissions are more likely within 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days). Hospitals may also refer their partner skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) to the California Nursing Home Reducing Readmissions Preparation Program .

HSAG in Partnership With HQI

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