title: Identifying hospital organizational strategies to reduce readmissions.
abstract: With looming financial penalties for institutions with high readmission rates, hospital administrators are under pressure to implement strategies to reduce readmissions despite limited evidence of effective strategies. The objectives of this study were to understand the process of developing readmission reduction strategies and to identify and categorize the range of strategies being implemented. The authors designed a qualitative study using semistructured interviews with 12 hospital administrators at 6 different hospitals. The following 6 categories of strategies were identified: (a) tracking readmissions, (b) using prediction tools, (c) implementing disease-specific or generic readmission reduction programs, (d) adopting electronic health record-based strategies to improve transitions, (e) recruiting frontline staff for program leadership, and (f) coordinating with primary care providers. The results highlight the myriad approaches to readmission reduction and the complexity of developing effective strategies.
authors.affiliation: Hospital of University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce St, 100 Centrex, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Faraz.Ahmad@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Faraz S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Ahmad
authors.forename: Joshua P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Metlay
authors.forename: Frances K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Barg
authors.forename: Rebecca R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Rachel M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Werner
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000379:methods*; D006740:Hospital Administrators / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*
keywords: care transitions; qualitative methods; quality; readmissions