Preventing hospital readmissions: A transitions of care coordination framework
Abstract
Hospital readmissions (HRAs) have attracted significant worldwide interest because of the high associated costs. In the United States, HRAs have additional financial and legislative connotations, including monetary penalties to facilities across the nation. The transitions of care programmes are one of the most innovative hospital management initiatives in the current century to combat HRAs during the first month of discharge, increase customer satisfaction and facilitate a quicker and safer patient recovery in the community. Researchers around the world have been studying the implementation of similar programmes to tackle the problem. However, multiple studies have produced distinctive, controversial and conflicting outcomes following partial initiatives. The need for a customisable standard model is evident. This study discusses the scholarly justifications and international experiences for reducing HRAs and attempts to fill this gap proposing a transitions of care coordination framework (TCCF). The conceptual framework promotes the consolidation and standardisation of a series of organisational, financial and managerial initiatives and represents the first step towards the development, implementation and evaluation of transitions of care programmes in multiplayer health systems. The TCCF summarises important general strategies for the design of a transitional health programme and the barriers and challenges that anticipate its implementation. Additional investigation will facilitate the identification of and validate the necessary strategies, tools, metrics, processes and procedures to operationalise the concept.
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Author's Biography
Jose R. Masip is a medical doctor with a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of the North in Colombia, and a Master of Public Health and International Business degree from Florida International University; he was recently conferred with a doctorate in Health Administration by the University of Phoenix, Arizona. Dr Masip has 20 years of international experience in the healthcare industry, having served in a variety of clinical and leadership roles such as medical practitioner, hospital manager, insurance regional director, public health chief officer, hospital medical director and graduate lecturer. He is currently an independent researcher and his goals in the decades ahead are to teach, research as well as contribute to society with knowledge through the lens of scientific inquiry. His research interests relate to ageing, hospital management, care coordination programmes, digital public health and bridging healthcare with other disciplines.
Louise Underdahl earned a BA (English Literature) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), followed by Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS), Master of Public Administration and PhD at the University of Southern California. She served UCLA from 1978 to 1992, UCLA Health Risk Management from 1992 to 2017 and University of Phoenix Online since 2004. She is currently Lead Faculty Area Chair for the School of Advanced Studies Doctor of Health Administration programme and also serves as dissertation chair, committee member and active participant in the University of Phoenix Research Hub. Her research focuses on work attitudes and medical device safety.
Citation
Masip, Jose R. and Underdahl, Louise (2020, March 1). Preventing hospital readmissions: A transitions of care coordination framework. In the Management in Healthcare: A Peer-Reviewed Journal, Volume 4, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/ICDH3822.
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