Transition Expansion

The Hospitalist. 2010 April;2010(04):

April 1, 2010|The Hospitalist

Thousands of Michigan residents will have a better chance of avoiding readmission to the hospital thanks to a groundbreaking new collaboration between three of the state’s healthcare leaders.

Based on SHM’s Project BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older Adults through Safe Transitions) model, the collaborative program will be managed by the University of Michigan in collaboration with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The Michigan Blues provide and administer health benefits to 4.7 million Michigan residents.

Project BOOST helps hospitals reduce readmission rates by providing them with proven resources and expert mentoring to optimize the discharge transition process, enhance patient and family education practices, and improve the flow of information between inpatient and outpatient providers. Project BOOST was developed through a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation. Earlier in the year, the program recruited 15 Michigan sites to participate. Training begins in May.

Each improvement team will be assigned a mentor to coach them through the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating Project BOOST at their site. Program participants will receive face-to-face training, monthly coaching sessions with their mentors, and a comprehensive toolkit to implement Project BOOST. Sites also participate in an online peer learning and collaboration network.

“This kind of innovative, targeted program benefits both the patient and the healthcare provider by establishing better communication between all parties,” says Scott Flanders, MD, FHM, associate professor and director of hospital medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and SHM president.

To Flanders, it’s no coincidence that hospitalists are taking the lead in improving hospital discharges. “Readmissions are a pervasive but preventable problem,” he says. “Hospitalists are uniquely positioned to provide leadership within the hospital, to promote positive, system-based changes that improve patient satisfaction, and promote collaboration between hospitalists and primary-care physicians.”

In addition to being preventable, readmissions are costly, draining the resources, time, and energy of the patient, PCPs, and hospitals. Research in the April 2009 New England Journal of Medicine indicates that 20% of hospitalized patients are readmitted to the hospital within a month of their discharge.1 Nationally, readmissions cost Medicare $17.4 billion each year.1

The New Face of HospitalMedicine.org

SHM has revamped its Web site, which serves as HM’s premier online destination and the initial stop for hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The landing page at hospital medicine.org, which has long served as a portal for SHM member services and products, and as a clearinghouse for information on QI and practice management topics, has been reorganized to better serve members and other visitors.

“Thousands of members and others interested in hospital medicine visit our Web site every month,” says Todd Von Deak, SHM’s Vice President of Operations & General Manager. “We’ve given it a facelift, so it’s easier to navigate. Now, members can quickly find the information they need, including exclusive content from the leading publications in hospital medicine.”

Hospitalmedicine.org now features “rotating” content in the main section of the landing page. Below it, the most-requested information has been divided into four categories: Education and Meetings; Practice Management; Quality Solutions; and Membership.

The changes are one of many technological innovations SHM uses to communicate with members. SHM has its own Twitter feed, @SHMLive, to stay at the forefront of breaking news. Earlier this year, SHM and Epocrates introduced “Hospitalist Connection,” a new application for handheld devices that delivers exclusive HM commentary directly to a hospitalist’s smartphone or mobile device.—BS

Collaborative Partnerships

Prior to the program’s launch in Michigan, SHM recruited and mentored Project BOOST sites independently. However, like many productive relationships in a hospital, Project BOOST in Michigan depends on collaboration between experts.