Can An Analytics App Prevent Readmissions?

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

An app that allows patients to connect with their providers also claims to prevent readmissions through analytics which identify at-risk patients. 

Using analytics, an app called Post Discharge Treatment and Readmission Predictor could not only flag patients at risk for readmission, but also save hospitals money in the process. 

“Healthcare providers can benefit from this app,” said Amirhosein Gholami, one of the Binghamton University graduate students who helped create the application. “The benefit for the patient is that they don't have to go to the hospital to wait for some services, or even with emergency services, they don't need to call 911. They can just get help from the healthcare provider. The biggest benefit of this app for hospitals and healthcare providers is to prevent them from paying penalties, which is not a small amount.” 

According to Fierce Healthcare Mobile, the app uses analytics to calculate a patient’s probability for readmission by mining historical records and comparing those to present-day status. This is valuable for patient health and safety, but also especially important because readmissions within 30 days result in penalties for hospitals, which as Health IT Outcomes has reported in the past, are certainly not cheap. 

“For this app, predicting the readmission rate is only one part. The other part of this app is instant communication between the doctor/nurse and the patient,” said Gholami in an announcement. “The patient can send information directly to the healthcare provider and, based on the new information, the provider can predict the new readmission rate and send some instructions to the patient to take this medicine, to do this, etc. 

“I don't see anything similar to it on the market,” said Gholami. “If it can help to prevent even just 10 percent of patients from being rehospitalized, it's big money.”