Top 10 Discharge Planning Answers Everyone Should Know!
Important Answers to Know when preparing to leave a Hospital or Short Term Rehabilitation Facility...
All to often there is confusion when a patient is discharged from a Hospital or Short Term rehabilitation Facility resulting in unnecessary and preventable readmissions.
"When we talk to a patient, caregiver or family member about a patients discharge from a Hospital or Short Term Rehabilitation facility we make every attempt to ensure that the products and services we are providing will help keep the patient safe while rehabilitating in the comfort of their own home" says Craig Schuck, Owner of A&C Medical Equipment & Supplies inc of Southbury CT.
Many times patients are unsure of what to do or who to call in the event of a problem or concern that arises after their discharge. According to Schuck, "we try to do our part by making sure the home is safe with our Home Medical Equipment, Supplies and Services, but many times that's just not enough."
Patients need to know and understand who they should call if a problem were to arise after discharge. They should know exactly what Home Medical Equipment and Supplies they need and be acutely aware about the medications they need to take and what their side
effects could be. In addition, they need to understand what symptoms they need to watch out for and specifically how to manage them.
It is also very important to have a follow up doctor appointment, preferable withing 7-days after discharge almost regardless of the situation. According to Dr. Grace Yin Jenq a Yale geriatrician who spoke recently at the SouthWestern Connecticut Area on Agency annual breakfast meeting. "After we implemented a procedure whereby patients are required to see a community provider within 7 days post discharge, we observed a significant decline in our 30-day readmission rates.
During her presentation, Dr Jenc referred to the 3 main reason why patients are readmitted to a Hospital or Short Term Rehabilitation facility are:
- Medications and their side effects are not clearly understood potentially leading to non-compliance creating another potential hospital visit
- Complication and misunderstanding about outcome and patient is back again for the same procedure or same reason for original admission
- Not sure about post discharge goals and unclear about what to do or who to call in the event of a complication
With recent reductions in Medicare reimbursement rates, some short term rehabilitation facilities are choosing not to perform home safety assessments prior to discharge. It's hit or miss if a Hospital or Short Term rehabilitation facility performs an In-Home safety assessment prior to discharge and the fact that Medicare has reduced payment for this service does not help. Who can blame them says Schuck If Medicare is not going to reimburse for both a Physical and Occupational Therapist to go out to the home and asses the homes safety, then how can they perform the activity?"
We view this to be a big problem stated Schuck who said that unsafe homes lead to tremendous amounts of avoidable hospital readmissions because patients were not made aware of simple home safety modifications that could prevent tripping hazards that lead to potentially avoidable falls. See Blog article
Obtained partially from discharge planning work done by Eric Colemen and The John Hartford Foundation The Top 10 Discharge Planning Preparation Checklist provides 10 simple answers that everyone should know and completely understand prior to discharge.
