Homecare and Avoiding Hospital Re-Admission
We've written about hospital infection rates before, indicating that sepsis and pneumonia killed 48,000 patients and added $8.1 billion to heath care costs in 2006 alone. And a current news story about famous 93-year-old Hungarian actress Zsa Zsa Gabor making headlines illustrates this tragic circumstance we see all too often, as she has developed an infection while in the hospital after having surgery on a broken hip.
Medicare data shows that nearly 1 in 5 patients who leave the hospital are re-admitted within the next month and that even more than 75% of these re-admissions are preventable. The top reasons for 30-day hospital re-admissions?
- 78% non-compliance with lifestyle recommendations
- 73% failure to take their medications correctly, given regimen changes
- 68% patient not properly directed to home health services
- 66% lack of follow-through on care/tests from shift to shift
- 57% failure of doctors to encourage home health
And while you can't always control whether or not you or your loved one must remain the hospital, there are things you can do to ensure hospital re-admittance is mitigated with these simple rules of thumb:
- Ensure that you or your loved one is following your medication plan
- Make transportation available so that you or your loved one is able to attend follow-up appointments, therapy, tests, etc.
- Make sure lifestyle changes are being reinforced
- 24/7 contact between physician, caregiver and patient
- Good communication - make sure your needs or the needs of your loved one are being met