A new initiative from the California HealthCare Foundation will focus on reducing preventable patient readmissions in 20 hospitals across the state.
Project BOOST (Better Outcomes for Older adults through Safe Transitions) is designed to reduce 30-day readmission rates, enhance patient satisfaction and improve the flow of information between hospitals and outpatient physicians.
The Society of Hospital Medicine developed project BOOST in 2008. SHM is the medical society representing hospitalist physicians.
A 2009 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that unplanned readmissions cost Medicare $17.4 billion annually. The Obama administration has identified readmissions as a potential source of savings, including reducing payments to hospitals with high numbers of patients who are readmitted.
Funding from the CHCF will enable 20 California hospitals to be trained by SHM experts. CHCF's support will cover a share of technical assistance costs for each hospital accepted into the collaborative; individual hospitals will pay a fee of $14,500.
During the first year of the program, hospitals will begin improving their discharge procedures using SHM's Project BOOST toolkit and one-on-one mentorships with leaders in the field. The second year will focus on training additional mentors in California, as part of an effort to build a sustainable infrastructure to allow gains to quickly spread throughout the state.
Recruiting for the California sites has just begun.