Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Your Hospital Discharge Planning Calls

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) December 7, 2010 -- The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (more commonly referred to as “health care reform”) has raised the stakes for hospitals to reduce high readmission rates. A focus on discharge planning as a means of reducing these rates has resulted in much coverage through the media and much angst on the part of health care organizations that are already struggling to address staffing issues and increasing demands from multiple sources.

A possible solution—outsourcing discharge planning calls, one critical component of effective planning and a means of both gaining information about and managing patient satisfaction (another high stake item for hospitals hoping to maintain or increase reimbursement from both government and private payors).

Discharge planning calls have always been important for patient service and quality care. The need for this follow-up, though, has been gaining attention recently due to a new direct connection between patient satisfaction results and CMS payments. HCAHPS scores are likely to represent 30 percent of annual payment updates in new hospital reimbursement formulas. For those hospitals that have not already been doing formal discharge planning calls, the question is no longer “if” they should be done, but “how.”

Baird Group, Inc. is a results-oriented consulting group specializing in customer service improvement and mystery shopping for health care organizations. Baird delivers insightful observations, customized service strategies and training. Since 1991, Baird Group has provided health care clients with targeted solutions for customer service challenges. Baird Group recently released a DVD from its recent webinar Improving the Patient Experience and Bottom Line with Post Discharge Calls and will be hosting a 60-minute webinar on January 13, 2011 from 1:00-2:00 p.m., CT on 3 Essentials of a Successful Post-Discharge Call Program.

About Kristin Baird, RN, BSN, MHA, President

With over thirty years of experience in patient care, health care marketing, business development and administration, Kristin Baird is a talented speaker and consultant with a passion for service excellence. The president of Baird Group, Inc., Baird earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Masters of Science in Health Services Administration from Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

discharge planning     hcahps survey     health care reform     hospital discharge     patient satisfaction