CMS NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26,
2016
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS
Media Inquiries
CMS Releases Guide to Preventing Readmissions among
Racially and Ethnically Diverse Medicare Beneficiaries
Today, the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH), released a new
Guide to Preventing Readmissions among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Medicare
Beneficiaries.
The Guide was developed in collaboration
with the Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and the
National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago as part of
the CMS
Equity Plan for Improving Quality in Medicare, and is designed to assist hospital leaders and
stakeholders focused on quality, safety, and care redesign in identifying root
causes and solutions for preventing avoidable readmissions among racially and
ethnically diverse Medicare beneficiaries.
“CMS has an important opportunity
and a critical role in preventing hospital readmissions while promoting health
equity among diverse Medicare beneficiaries,” said Cara James, Director of
CMS’s Office of Minority Health. “This Guide encourages action-oriented steps
and solutions in achieving health equity, addresses reducing readmissions and
focuses on our initiative of achieving better care, smarter spending, and
healthier people throughout our health care system.”
Racial and ethnic minority
populations are more likely than their white counterparts to be readmitted
within 30 days of discharge for certain chronic conditions, such as heart
failure, heart attack, and pneumonia, among others. Social, cultural, and
linguistic barriers contribute to these higher readmission rates.
The Guide provides:
- New, action-oriented
guidance for addressing avoidable readmissions in this population by
providing an overview of the issues related to readmissions for diverse
Medicare beneficiaries;
- A set of seven key
recommendations that hospital leaders can take to prevent avoidable
readmissions in this population;
- Concrete examples of
initiatives and strategies that may be applied to reduce readmissions in
diverse populations.
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