The Human Face of Hospital Readmissions

Health Affairs blogger Risa Lavizzo-Mourey explores the human face of hospital readmissions, sharing the perspectives of two individuals representative of the one in five elderly patients returning to the hospital within 30 days of leaving.

Readmissions is a growing concern, and several initiatives seek to address this costly health care issue.  Aligning Forces for Quality, one of the initiatives attempting to determine factors associated with readmissions, encourages health care providers to tailor their approach to discover methods that work best for their patients’ individual circumstances. 

Another report was commissioned by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine the issue of readmissions through the eyes of those grappling with the problem.  The report is part of the Care About Your Care initiative, devoted to improving the transition from hospital to home.

Reducing Readmissions: It Takes a Village

Too often, patients leave the hospital confused about how to care for themselves at home, ultimately causing them to return to the hospital. Hospitals and health care organizations are addressing the problem of avoidable readmissions by taking steps to help patients get the care they need, including simplifying discharge instructions, working one-on-one with patients at high risk for being readmitted, and improving coordination between hospitals and outpatient care facilities.

This work is at the heart of Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in 16 targeted communities. A new, interactive suite of materials showcases lessons from AF4Q and hospitals participating in its Hospital Quality Network, demonstrating how those who give care and receive care can work together.

Click here for more information regarding lessons for health care providers on improving care transitions.

Click here to learn about INQRI researchers who have found that nurses can have a positive impact on reducing readmissions.

Recommendations For Enhancing Quality Improvement Efforts In Health Care

A newly released paper from the Urban Institute reviewed the evolution of QI initiatives, the current evidence about whether QI interventions work, QI’s promise for the future, and how to help it find success in health care. The paper, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson's Quality/Equality Portfolio, made numerous recommendations geared towards a variety of stakeholders that can improve quality improvement efforts and thus, lower costs while improving patient care.

Click here to access the article summary and brief.

A New Tool to Compare Hospital Performance

Last week, Tom Avril and Dylan Purcell, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, reported on the Center of Medicare & Medicaid Services' hospital performance measurements for Philadelphia area hospitals. The Inquirer has created its own health portal for Philadelphia area residents to obtain performance data on eight serious, generally preventable conditions that may influence which facility they chose to obtain health services from when necessary.


Click here to access the Philadelphia Inquirer's hospital performance data.

Click here to read the news article regarding hospital performance measurements.

Click here to read more about INQRI teams' work addressing quality/performance measurement.

Click here to access the CMS hospital compare website.

Voices of Quality: Aligning Forces

The July edition of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's quarterly e-newsletter, "The Quality Report" features a video depicting recent work from the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program.

An important step toward improving the quality of health care in any community is to understand how good the care is. That’s why performance measurement and public reporting is key to AF4Q. Publicly reporting information on the quality of care that doctors and hospitals provide serves two important purposes. First, it allows patients to make more informed choices about their own care and become better partners with their doctors. Second, it allows doctors and other health care professionals to see where they can improve and target areas for quality-improvement efforts. In the 16 AF4Q communities across the country, measurement and reporting efforts are helping lift the quality of care provided doctor by doctor, clinic by clinic.

Click here to view a video about these efforts.

If you would like to receive future editions of "The Quality Report" monthly e-newsletter, sign up here.

Aligning Forces for Quality Launches Next Phase

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced last week that it will award grants of $1.3 million to 16 regional health care organizations through its Aligning Forces for Quality initiative, RWJF’s signature effort to lift the quality of U.S. health care. The latest round of grants marks the onset of the third phase of Aligning Forces.

Begun in 2006, Aligning Forces works to improve health care by engaging patients, publicly reporting the performance of local providers and improving the quality of care delivered in each community. In addition to building on its previous successes, Aligning Forces alliances nationwide will now focus on developing and testing models for paying providers based on the value—not volume—of services delivered.

Click here to learn more about Aligning Forces.

Voices of Quality: AF4Q

The April edition of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's monthly e-newsletter, "The Quality Report" features a video depicting recent work from the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program.

To improve the quality of health care, we need better information about the performance of doctors and hospitals. You cannot improve what you do not measure. Across the country, Aligning Forces for Quality communities are developing online public reports to make that information available to those who get care, give care and pay for care. This video tells their stories.

If you would like to receive future editions of "The Quality Report" monthly e-newsletter, sign up here.

New AF4Q Materials Available

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has provided new updates regarding their Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) program.  AF4Q is RWJF's signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health care and provide models for national reform.

Click here to watch an inspiring new video and download other materials.

Aligning Forces for Quality

Back in 2006, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation began a four-site pilot program called Aligning Forces for Quality (aka AF4Q), a multi-faceted laboratory for reform, active in 17 very different communities, home to 38 million people.  Bruce Siegel, AF4Q's director was recently interviewed for an article about the program for New America.  In the piece, writer Joanne Kenen asserts, "Quality -- attaining it, improving it -- is at the heart of health reform."

Check out the article.

RWJF's Voices of Quality

Each month, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation releases "The Quality Report," an e-newsletter which provides a monthly report from their Quality/Equality program area. One of the highlights each month is the "Voices of Quality" segment - an opportunity to hear from a health care provider about what works.

This month, Shelley Hirshberg, the executive director of the P2 Collaborative of Western New York, the lead organization for Western New York's Aligning Forces for Quality, discusses her personal experience becoming an engaged health care consumer.

Click here to listen.