30 Day Hospital Readmissions Rates, calculated as the percentage of Medicare recipients who are discharged from a hospital stay and then return to the hospital within 30 days, have been a major focus of both The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and area health providers for a number of years. Beginning in 2013, area hospitals were penalized up to 1% of their entire Medicare revenues if their readmission rates were out of line. For 2015, that maximum penalty has grown to 3%. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services believes that many of those readmissions were unnecessary and have charged area providers with the task of improving many aspects of care, especially “handoffs” from one care provider to the next, as a way of preventing some of these readmissions.
In response to this effort, the Community Care Coalition of Chester County was formed on June 15, 2012. The Coalition was formed to improve communication between multiple care providers in the hope that improved communication and smoother “handoffs” would result in fewer hospital readmissions. This level of collaboration has never happened before in Chester County as multiple providers have come together with the common goal of improving care. At this time, the Community Care Coalition of Chester County, or C5, is one of the most active organizations of its kind in Pennsylvania.
Members of C5 include local hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, physician practices, skilled and non-medical home care agencies, hospices, personal care homes, adult day care and community partners. C5 members share data and best practices with one another in an unprecedented show of collaboration between competitors and provide education to the community at large on relevant issues. Key issues tackled by the group include improvements to the discharge planning process at every level of care and education to consumers about the importance of medication adherence and follow up physician care, especially after a hospital or skilled nursing home stay. To date, the C5 group has presented educational forums to more than 150 Chester County residents and has a full agenda of presentations planned for the Spring, Summer and Fall. C5 has collaborated with State Senator Andy Dinniman to provide a Medication Passport, a tool to record all of an individual’s medical information, to those who attend the educational sessions.
Success to date has been notable, with readmissions in Chester County down by 11.5%. As the 3 year anniversary of C5 approaches, C5 will continue to reach out to the community and to our area legislators to advance the cause of providing better care to all residents of Chester County.
