App Reduces Readmissions 40%

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

A tablet-based app has been shown to reduce admission rates for high-risk patients.

Using tablets loaded with an app created by San Francisco-based Care At Hand high risk patients are avoiding readmission at an astounding rate. Health Data Management reports the app – which prompts patients to answer questions about their condition in the weeks following their release – reduced readmissions for at-risk Medicare patients by almost 40 percent.

“Patients at medium or high risk for readmission receive an in-home visit within 48 hours of discharge and a weekly phone call for each of the next three weeks. During each encounter, the coach uses a tablet-based application that provides suggested questions written in lay language based on the patient's diagnoses, treatment, and overall risk profile,” explains an Innovations Exchange report.

“If the answers indicate a decline in health status, the system sends a real-time alert to a nurse care coordinator, who subsequently uses a different component of the software to help the patient and coach address the issue within 24 hours, including arranging for any needed services.”

Based on admissions data for just six months of the program, 30-day readmissions were reduced by 39.6 percent among at-risk patients. iHealth Beat reports that during that time the program also reduced all-cause readmissions for all Medicare beneficiaries, including those not assigned a coach, by 5.9 percent. In addition, the hospital was able to save roughly $109 per patient per month over the six-month period. Added up, this amounted to a gross savings of about $600,000 and net savings of roughly $370,000.

The report concluded, “The use of health coaches supported by the tablet-based software significantly reduced readmissions among at-risk Medicare patients, as compared with use of health coaches without the software. This reduction generated substantial cost savings for partner hospitals and the health care system as a whole.”