BETHESDA, Md.—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 13 announced the 14 communities around the nation chosen for its Care Transitions Project, seeking to eliminate unnecessary hospital re-admissions.
“Our data show that nearly one in five patients who leave the hospital today will be re-admitted within the next month, and that more than three-quarters of these re-admissions are potentially preventable,” said CMS Acting Administrator Charlene Frizzera. “This situation can be changed by approaching healthcare quality from a communitywide perspective, and focusing on how all of the members of an area’s healthcare team can better work together in the best interests of their shared patient population.”
Care Transitions Project goal is to improve healthcare processes so patients, their caregivers and their entire team of providers have what they need to keep patients from returning to the hospital for ongoing care needs. By promoting seamless transitions from the hospital to home, skilled nursing care or home healthcare, this communitywide approach seeks not only to reduce hospital readmissions but to yield sustainable and replicable strategies that achieve high-value healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries.
“The Care Transitions Project is a new approach for CMS,” said Barry M. Straube, MD, chief medical officer for CMS and its Office of Clinical Standards & Quality director. “Rather than focusing on one global problem and trying to apply a one-size-fits-all solution across the country, Care Transitions experts will look in their own backyards to learn why hospital re-admissions occur locally and how patients transition between healthcare settings. Based on this community-level knowledge, Care Transitions teams will design customized solutions that address the underlying local drivers of re-admissions.”
