ARC Newsletter-October 2013 *UPDATE* October 21, 2013 Click HERE for ARC Website! View this email in your browser "If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito. ~Betty Reese Readmission Roundup Shrink Readmissions By Adding Nurses Read more Study of Lower Readmissions Rates Points to In-Hospital ARC Program News CA Readmission Summit (CARS): Driving Readmissions Down On October 10th, ARC and its partner organizations (the Health Services Advisory Group, California Hospital Engagement Network, California Quality Collaborative, Cynosure Health, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) held the 1st California Readmission Summit (CARS) at the South San Francisco Conference Center
Education Can an IPod reduce preventable readmissions by 15%? Read more Readmissions 'Drop Like a Rock' with Predictive Modeling The 2013 AHCA Quality Report Toxic Hospital Practices May Fuel Readmissions Same-hospital readmission rates unreliable predictor for all-hospital readmission rate (CARS) at the South San Francisco Conference Center where over 350 attendees came together for a day focused on readmission reduction efforts across the country and statewide. The keynote address was delivered by Jane Brock, MD, MSPH, Chief Medical Officer for Community Action at the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care. Doug Solomon, PhD, MPH, Innovation Consultant and IDEO Fellow, concluded the day. Breakout tracks focused on patient engagement, collaborating with pharmacy, community partnerships, healthcare IT innovations, and highlighted successful readmission reduction programs. Interactive sessions provided attendees with expert advice on health literacy, setting up a Patient Advisory Council, and a demonstration of a pre-discharge simulation intervention used at North Mississippi Health Services. The event was generously sponsored by CareInSync, LoopBack Analytics, Walgreens, the California Society of Health System Pharmacists, and RightCare Solutions. We would like to thank everyone who attended the summit and to all our sponsors and exhibitors for supporting the program! You may access presentations by clicking here. In Memoriam Hot Tip! How to help patients It is with a heavy heart that we must share the passing of Dionette Kelton. Dionette was the Director of Care Management at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and a valuable ARC participant who shared her knowledge
How to help patients and families prepare for the issues involved in hospital care? generously with all participants. She was extremely helpful in the dissemination of teach back throughout ARC and will be greatly missed. Use The Empowered Patient Hospital Guide for Patients and Families The Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Foundation has created an educational trust in memory of Dionette. The link below will take you to information about this fund. Download the FREE Hospital Guide http://vmcfoundation.org/vmc/?p=3861 Bright Spots Outpatient Palliative Care Program, Camino Division PAMF Palliative Care is a relatively new specialty of Medicine that started in the 1990 s. It is defined as specialized medical care for people with serious illness. The origin of Palliative Care is for the word Palliate which is to reduce or lessen. So as you can imagine, the main focus of Palliative Care is to reduce the burden of suffering caused by a serious illness, and to improve focus on quality of life. People can avail themselves of Palliative Care while they pursue curative treatment for their serious illness.
serious illness. Palliative Care at its origin began in the hospitals, which makes sense since the burden of illness is so high in the hospital and a focus on quality of life is so desperately needed. Recently the focus has shifted to establishing Palliative Care as an outpatient service. Initially, Palliative Care was focused on patients with Cancer, as the burden of illness is so high for Cancer. It is slowly being recognized that everyone with a serious illness, whether Congestive Heart Failure, Advanced Dementia, and neurological disorders, can benefit from Palliative Care. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, is a 1000+ physician Multi-specialty Group, that covers a broad expanse in the bay area, in California. They have established an Outpatient Palliative Care program at PAMF, started in 2011 in the Santa Cruz Division, 2010 in Palo Alto Division, and January 2013 in the Camino Division. The Outpatient Palliative Care team consists of 2 MD s, one nurse practitioner, a Social worker, a RN Liason, and a Care Coordinator. The primary focus of the Palliative Care team is to meet people wherever they are. They are able to do home visits, see people in the clinic or in the nursing home. They liaison and work very closely with the inpatient hospital team at El Camino Hospital, in Mountain View, and at other affiliated hospitals. They have been able to provide care for people with advanced cancer, advanced congestive heart failure, advanced liver, kidney disease, neurological diseases, and advanced dementia. The main focus in on treating the symptom burden, for e.g pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, that usually accompanies a serious illness. They also do a functional assessment, to determine the functional level and focus on advance care planning. The team at Camino has been operational for about 10 months. Preliminary data shows a reduction in readmissions to the hospital by 84%. This is a comparison of readmissions 90 days prior to starting Palliative Care, to 30 days after starting Palliative Care.
UPCOMING EVENTS Save-the-Date November 22nd, 2013 Project Red Boot Camp unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Facebook Twitter Website Google Plus Email