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Anxious to profit from potential healthcare savings and quality improvement achievable through reductions in hospital readmissions, many healthcare organizations are taking a hard look at readmission trends in their populations and launching programs to reduce these rates.

As many payors begin to tie reimbursement to hospital readmission data, Benchmarks in Reducing Hospital Readmissions provides actionable information from 107 healthcare organizations on their efforts to reduce avoidable readmissions in their most vulnerable and highest-utilization populations. This 50-page resource provides metrics and measures on current and planned initiatives as well as lessons learned and results from early adopters of readmission reduction strategies. With hospital readmission trends under the microscope in healthcare reform, organizations will benefit from a review of these data to evaluate and plan programs and compare performance and utilization data.

This exclusive report analyzes the responses of 107 healthcare organizations to HIN's November 2009 Industry Survey on Reducing Readmissions, presenting the data in more than 20 easy-to-follow graphs and tables.

Download the executive summary of the 2010 Benchmarks in Reducing Hospital Readmissions.

This industry snapshot is enhanced with commentary from Aetna, Priority Health, Geisinger Health Systems and other organizations whose innovative approaches to care transitions, case management, medication review and more for key populations and clinical conditions are achieving significant reductions in hospital readmissions.

This report provides expanded data on:

• Current and planned readmission reduction programs;
• Populations and conditions targeted by readmission reduction efforts;
• Tools and strategies to identify patients most at risk for returning to the hospital;
• The patient care model most often included in respondents' readmission reduction strategies;
• Strategies, protocols and policies to help prevent hospital readmissions in vulnerable populations;
• The top five tasks performed at hospital discharge to minimize the chances of a patient returning to the hospital as well as other strategies to strengthen the hospital discharge process;
• Roles and responsibilities in readmission avoidance program administration;
• Emerging trends in reimbursement and incentives for reduction of readmission rates;
• Overcoming barriers to reducing readmissions and to the launching of programs in this area;
• The impact of hospital readmission management programs on healthcare utilization, member/patient satisfaction and ROI;
• The complete November 2009 Reducing Hospital Readmissions survey tool;

The 50-page Benchmarks in Reducing Hospital Readmissions is the one-of-a-kind resource to evaluate the efforts of your organization in this area against those with similar initiatives in order to launch and retool programs and benefit from incentives that reward reduction in readmissions.

Download the executive summary of the 2010 Benchmarks in Reducing Hospital Readmissions.

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Key Findings
  • Prevalence and Targets of Readmission Reduction Programs
  • Readmission Reduction Strategies and Tools
  • Program Content and Delivery
  • Impact and ROI from Efforts to Reduce Readmissions
• Methodology
• Analysis of Responses
  • Overview of Survey
  • Respondent Demographics
  • Program Prevalence and Target Populations
  • Targeted Conditions and Identification Methods
  • Components of Readmission Reduction Programs
  • What Happens at Hospital Discharge
  • Barriers, Benefits and Results
  • The Health Plan Perspective
  • The Hospital Perspective
  • From Other Organizations
• Respondents in Their Own Words
  • Greatest Challenge Facing Readmission Reduction Programs
  • Benefits, Results and ROI
  • Additional Comments
• Conclusion
• Responses to Questions
  • PART I: All Respondents
  • PART II: Health Plan Response
  • PART III: Hospital Response
• Reducing Hospital Readmissions Survey Tool
• Glossary
• About the Authors