Volume XXVl, No. 4
July 2012
The Independent Medical Business Newspaper
Reducing readmissions Minnesota’s RARE Campaign
By Kathy Cummings, RN; Tania Daniels, PT, MBA; and Janelle Shearer, MA, BSN, RN
A
By Marie Manthey, MNA, FRCN, FAAN, PhD (hon.)
NURSING to page 10
PAID
Evolving relationships and education
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PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
changing role of nursing
ome things never change: Every year, a Gallup poll asks the public to rank more than 20 professions on ethics, honesty, and trustworthiness, and every year, nursing is No. 1 (except for 2001, when that spot went to firefighters). However, while the public’s positive perception of the nursing profession remains unchanged, the role that nurses play has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, as the settings in which nurses work and the ways in which they help patients have expanded. As the role of nurses has changed, so have the relationships between physicians and nurses. The traditional “handmaiden” concept of
Detriot Lakes, MN Permit No. 2655
The
cross the United States, hospitals and other health care organizations are working to reduce avoidable hospital readmissions, following national priorities set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Affordable Care Act. Minnesota health care leaders recognized the need to improve, since nearly one in five Medicare patients discharged from Minnesota hospitals is readmitted within 30 days. Eighteen states have lower readmission rates. Minnesota hospitals, health plans and other health care organizations intensified their efforts to reduce avoidable readmissions starting in 2009. To combine and build upon this work and accelerIN THIS ISSUE: ate improvement statewide, three health Orthopedics care organizations colPage 20 laborated to create the RARE (Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively) Campaign. READMISSIONS to page 12