Q-Centrix Survey Reveals That Hospitals Underestimate Likelihood of Readmissions Penalties

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - June 29, 2015) - Hospital readmissions -- and their prevention -- have become increasingly important to U.S. hospitals, as new measures are added and the resulting penalties increase. Despite this, many hospitals are overconfident and underprepared when it comes to hospital readmissions. This is one of the key findings of a survey released today by Q-Centrix.

The Q-Centrix Hospital Readmissions Survey polled 320 C-suite, senior-level and quality professionals from hospitals around the country to learn their perceptions of the current state of readmissions at their hospitals and their strategies for readmission reduction.

"The percentage of hospitals receiving some penalty for readmissions has increased each year since CMS began imposing them -- reaching a high of 78 percent in 2015," explained Q-Centrix CEO, Milton Silva-Craig. "At the same time, our hospital readmissions survey revealed that only 55 percent of hospitals anticipate receiving a penalty for this year. Given the historical trend and the three additional diagnoses recently added, the percentage of hospitals penalized may be much higher than 55%."

"Another key finding of the survey reveals that, while hospitals are applying multiple different reduction strategies, fewer than 1 in 5 employ technology that's specific to reducing their readmissions," added Brian Foy, vice president, product development at Q-Centrix. "This is a big miss for hospitals. Without a technological component they are underutilizing their own data-which can be leveraged to reduce readmissions."

Other survey findings include:

• Despite the fact that 55% of non-exempt hospitals expect to be penalized, nearly three-quarters describe themselves as "somewhat" or "extremely" confident in their ability to reduce readmissions.
• Less than 2 in 10 hospitals acknowledge that they are somewhat or extremely unconfident in their ability to reduce admissions.
• On average, hospitals are employing 4.5 different reduction strategies.
• Most common strategies employed include: completing a medication reconciliation process (92%), educating patients and patient caregiver's pre-discharge (87%), and conducting phone calls or other communication post-discharge (84%).
• The strategies used the least include: conducting in-home visits post-discharge (26%) and using technology specifically designed to manage readmission risk (18%). Three percent reported having no formal strategy.
• In ranking how various factors impact their hospital's readmissions, 44% of hospital executives ranked comorbid conditions as the most impactful, while 27% ranked process of care/care coordination as most impactful.

One technology solution to help hospitals reduce readmissions is the Readmission Reduction module of the healthcare quality information system, Q-Apps, which was recently launched by Q-Centrix.

"Our Readmission Reduction solution is specially designed to help in this area," added Foy. "It enables hospitals to view the most accurate prediction of a patient's risk for readmission during their stay, allowing them to reduce the readmission risk before the current admission is complete."

For more information about the survey and readmission reduction resources, visit: www.q-centrix.com/readmission-reduction. To learn more about the leader in clinical surveillance and quality data abstraction, visit www.q-centrix.com.

About Q-Centrix
Q-Centrix aims to improve patient care in the U.S. through the use of its market-leading technology platform, Q-Apps, coupled with the industry's largest and broadest team of nurse-educated, quality information specialists. Conducting in excess of one million quality data abstractions annually, Q-Centrix is a comprehensive quality partner to hundreds of hospitals, providing clinical surveillance, abstraction, analysis and improvement services.