Our state's QIO (Quality Improvement Organization) is HSAG (Health Services Advisory Group). They have developed a series of 30-minute Webinars called Quickinars that are focused on Improving Care Transitions. As a part of this series, they have developed a free QIIP (Quality Improvement Innovation Portal) which allows a facility and their hospital partners to share patient protected standardized readmission data that permits hospitals and their SNF partners to identify opportunities for improving care transitions.
An evidenced based program for improving unnecessary hospital readmissions was presented on August 1 and is available at: https://www.hsag.com/cc-quickinars. In this quickinar, Dr. Albert Lam, Immediate Past-President of CALTCM, shared information from CALTCM’s SNF 2.0® program that helps nursing facilities to improve care and communication and to successfully implement INTERACT (interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transitions). Developed with grant support, and on the basis of what was learned during these grants, CALTCM partnered with multi-facility corporations to implement CALTCM SNF 2.0® in over 60 facilities.
CALTCM SNF 2.0® features 1:1 mentorship and incentive programming combined with education and leadership training over a period of 6 months. On average, facilities found a 33-66% reduction in readmissions, improved patient care measures and patient satisfaction, and multifaceted savings to referring hospitals, their corporation, and their resident’s health plans.
At a recent hospital care transition monthly meeting with their SNF partners, I recommended this Quickinar, but also asked if they had heard of INTERACT or were using the SBAR or Stop and Watch Tool (see below). Only one facility had heard of INTERACT, and they were not currently using it because the module in PCC (Point Click Care) for INTERACT was “too expensive”.
After this meeting, I received an email from this hospital’s care coordinator asking for a presentation on this subject at a future Care Transition meeting.
Given the data on cost savings and patient satisfaction achieved through implementation of CALTCM SNF 2.0®, is it time for your facility or multi-facility corporation to partner with CALTCM to implement INTERACT?
Contact our executive director at CALTCM, Barbara Hulz at [email protected]
To access the INTERACT suite of tools for free, please visit https://pathway-interact.com/ and click on “Tools & Resources” (first tab in the menu), and register for a free account. (This website also includes links to purchase pre-printed forms.)
Tim Gieseke MD, CMD
Past-President CALTCM