Improving Hospital Stays with Community Wide Programs

Ronald Lagoe,Lisa Crawford,Barbara Drapola,Suzanne Marra

doi:10.4236/crcm.2018.76038

Ronald Lagoe, Lisa Crawford + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/crcm.2018.76038

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Abstract

This study described a series of programs implemented in Syracuse, New York to support the movement of long term acute care patients to skilled nursing facilities. The Difficult to Place Program involved the identification of these patients and the communication of information concerning them between hospitals and nursing homes on a continuing basis. These patients involved approximately 20 percent of new admissions to nursing homes. The Subacute Programs included services such as intravenous therapy and offsite transportation that were not originally available in area nursing homes. The Subacute Program stimulated the development of these services in long term care. The Complex Care Programs have included services for patients with high severity of illness such as multiple intravenous antibiotic therapy and high cost medications. The Subacute and Complex Care Programs included 5 - 6 percent of Difficult to Place patients. The study demonstrated that these programs reduced the number of annual adult medicine and adult surgery patient days by 2288 between 2011 and 2017.

Highlights

In the United States, the urgency of efforts to reduce health care spending is increasing
The initial component of the study focused on utilization of programs implemented by the Syracuse hospitals and long term care providers to improve the efficiency of the health care system
The increase resulted from a combination of factors, including a 30.6 percent rise in the total number of new admissions to nursing homes between 2009 and 2015 and more extensive use of the Program by hospitals to reduce stays by referring larger numbers of patients to long term care

Summary

Introduction

In the United States, the urgency of efforts to reduce health care spending is increasing. One of the largest components of health care spending in the United States is hospital care. As the major inpatient providers at the community level, hospitals and nursing homes have been sources of care for patients with the highest severity of illness. This level of care has been based on the fact that both provide continuous 24 hour/7 day inpatient nursing services [3] [4]

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Conclusion