When we pilot-tested an earlier version of this new tracking tool (click here to download load it) we described it as the most user-friendly complicated Excel tool we had ever encountered.  That description still applies.  If you have never used Excel before, we highly recommend that you test-drive this new product with an experienced Excel user at your side.  And give yourself plenty of time, for there’s a lot here to explore.

This tracking tool, available as a free download from the Advancing Excellence in America’s Nursing Homes initiative, calculates a nursing home’s rates for 30-day readmissions, hospital admissions, transfers to the emergency department, and transfers resulting in observation stays.  The tool also prompts users to collect information about care processes that can help with quality improvement and root cause analyses.  For example, users are asked to record whether a resident had an advance care plan in place at the time of transfer.  The program also analyzes and reports summary data so that trends can be identified and tracked over time.  For instance, the tool tracks and trends the day and time of all transfers.

It’s a helpful tool at an excellent price (again, it’s available for free).  But should your nursing home adopt it?  That depends.  Several companies have developed or are developing electronic systems that aim to help nursing homes better manage resident care and care transitions.  Most of these include features that enable nursing homes to track transfers.  If your nursing home uses or plans to use one of these tracking systems, then you likely will not need this one.  If you currently use a paper-and-pencil tracking form, such as the INTERACT Transfer Log, then this Excel-driven system represents a powerful replacement. It’s more complex, and so will take more time to learn, but ultimately it may save time and enhance care because it automates root cause analyses, which in turn can strengthen your quality improvement efforts.  That said, be aware that the national INTERACT team will soon introduce its own electronic transfer tracker.  You may want to test-drive both tools–the Advancing Excellence tool and the INTERACT tool–before making a final decision.

If you are using or have tried the Advancing Excellence tracker, please tell us what you think of it in the Reply box below.  We welcome your reviews!