Volume XXV, No. 1
April 2011
The Independent Medical Business Newspaper
Preventing Medicare readmissions
Hospital pilot shows promising early results By William Neresian, MD, MHA, Barry Baines, MD, and Becky Schmidt, RN–BC
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SHRINKING T
PAID
By Victor M. Montori, MD, MSc
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PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
A call for minimally disruptive medicine
Detriot Lakes, MN Permit No. 2655
the health care footprint
he health care footprint has gotten oppressively large. For those who have limited access to health care, the burden of illness—symptoms, disability, and avoidance of activities to prevent symptoms—can significantly reduce quality of life, independence, the ability to care for loved ones and to pursue goals and dreams. Caring for these patients is the oldest calling of medicine: Alleviate suffering, palliate symptoms, and diagnose and cure the underlying cause. Reducing the burden of illness and returning the patient to health may leave a noticeable footprint (e.g., when an ICU admission or surgery is required), but it will be limited to the extent that the intervention is brief. For some patients, though, the health care footprint is ever-growing and never-ending. In particular for patients with chronic conditions, the goal often
educing hospital admissions, readmissions, and ED visits constitutes best care for patients and represents a key part of any serious effort to contain health care costs. Nationally, 20 percent of hospitalized Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days. In February 2010, Fairview Physician Associates (FPA), UCare, and primary care physicians in the FPA network piloted a program to reduce Medicare readmissions at Fairview Southdale Hospital. FPA is an Edina-based network of approximately 1,200 physicians affiliated with Fairview Health Services. UCare is an independent, nonprofit health plan serving more than 200,000 members of Medicaid and Medicare programs in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. READMISSIONS to page 16
IN THIS ISSUE:
Patient education Page 18