Complimentary from the publishers of Readmissions News               August 2016
	"While risk assessment tools should by no means be discounted, there are reasons to be skeptical that they offer a silver bullet to the readmissions problem in our health system. In the past few years there has been an explosion of readmission risk assessment tools, yet readmission rates have not seen the kind radical improvement one might expect. Significant flaws are present in many if not most approaches in the areas of data, model adaptability and clinical workflow integration. Too often these models are based singularly on historical patient data mined from the EHR or are disease-specific models that are unable to be scaled to address the wide variety readmissions challenges that exist across the health system. Models that rely on data collected at discharge are not timely enough to enable clinicians to take meaningful action, and ones that are not well-integrated into clinical workflow are not easily adopted. For a readmission risk assessment tool to achieve a meaningful and long-lasting impact, these common mistakes must be addressed at all costs." -Christopher L. Wright, MD, Consultant, Averon Infotech, Alpharetta, GA
	"A full two-thirds of patients readmitted to the hospital would have avoided that trip if they had seen their physicians within two weeks for follow up." Excerpted from: Readmissions News, Volume 5, Number 8, August 2016, "How Home Care Can Reduce Preventable Readmissions" by Evan Myers, MPH
	Study Finds One in Five Hospital Patients Discharged With Unstable Vital Signs ManagedCareMag, August 11, 2016
	New Cardiac Bundles Could Produce Some Big Winners and Losers Avalere, August 11, 2016
	Elderly Hospital Patients Arrive Sick, Often Leave Disabled Kaiser Health News, August 9, 2016
	The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program: Results of a National Survey AJMC, August 8, 2016
	A3 Health Shows On-Demand Therapy Service Reduced Hospital Readmissions A3 Health Press Release, August 7, 2016
	Lack of Pharmacy Access and Hospital Readmissions WebMD, August 4, 2016
	Medicare's Readmission Penalties Hit New High Kaiser Health News, August 2, 2016
	Cedars-Sinai Preventing Readmissions Through Non-Medical Home Care by Kyle Hill Sociodemographic Status Data Enrich Readmissions Risk-Adjustment Methodology by Herb B. Kuhn and Mat Reidhead How Home Care Can Reduce Preventable Readmissions by Evan Myers, MPH Thought Leaders' Corner: What role does risk assessment play in reducing readmissions? Industry News with briefs regarding Crouse Hospital, TeleHealth Services, TwelveStone Health Partners, Homecare Homebase, Zeriscope, Mayo Clinic, and Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Catching up with ... Kyle Hill Click here to view page one of this issue Click here to subscribe to Readmissions News, or find out more
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