Personal Contact with Patients Before and After Discharge Resulted in Lower Readmission Rates

Personal contact with patients before and after their hospital discharge resulted in significantly lower readmission rates, according to a study conducted by the Bronx Collaborative, which showed that among 500 patients who received two or more "interventions", in a special program to manage the transition between hospital and home, only 17.6 percent were readmitted to the hospital within 60 days of discharge versus 26.3 percent among a comparison group of 190 patients who received the current standard of care. Another 85 patients who received only one intervention for a variety of reasons had a higher readmission rate, raising to 22.8 percent the overall 60-day readmission rate for patients in the intervention group.
Interventions included intensive pre-discharge education, the scheduling of a post-discharge follow-up appointment with the patient's personal physician, and post-discharge telephone calls to review medications, identify concerns and verify the completion of the follow-up physician visit. In addition to receiving at least two interventions, the follow-up physician visit within 14 days of discharge appeared to be a key factor in preventing a readmission, according to the research analysis.
Source: Montefiore Medical Center