Needless re-admissions are an area of increasing concern in our health care industry.
Recent official statistics paint a poor picture of hospital discharge policies:
-
75% of hospital readmissions are preventable
-
Readmissions collectively cost over $12B to Medicare alone
-
2/3 of readmissions are due to drug-related events, most of which are preventable
-
1/5 of all Medicare patients discharged are readmitted within a month
The costs to the individual hospitals are equally worrisome. Depending on your field of practice, it's reasonable to expect each readmission to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Again, that's per patient.
The good news here is that most of these readmissions aren't just preventable, they're easily preventable. When researchers dug into the human stories behind the re-admissions, the biggest culprit seemed clear: a lack of communication. In most cases, the patients simply were not given all the information they needed.
Standardized discharge folders are an economical solution to this problem. These packets cost, at most, a few dollars per patient, yet every one can potentially prevent tens of thousands of dollars lost... as well as improving care.
Four Reasons Discharge Folders Make Sense For Every Hospital
I. Put All Your Educational Materials In One Place
When your hospital uses sturdy accordion folders to hold discharge information, there's plenty of room for everything a patient needs to know. Optional tabs can be added which sub-divide the information for easy access. Cardiac patients, for example, could have separate sections for "diet," "exercise," and "medications."
When you have a standardized set of discharge folders for each patient, you're always sending them out the door with everything they need to know.
II. Increase The Effectiveness Of Pre-Discharge Consultations
Discharge folders also ease the discharging process, by giving doctors or nurses a standard guide for explaining post-care to patients. When all the information is in one place, it means they're far less likely to forget to mention something.
Beyond that, numerous studies on education have shown that visual aids virtually always aid in learning and comprehension. The discharge folder provides all the reference material necessary to explain sometimes-complex care instructions.
III. Keep Materials Together During Post-Care
A well-organized accordion discharge folder makes it more likely a patient will keep all their vital information in one place, over the days and weeks ahead. This becomes a concern in cases where the post-care is progressive, with lists of instructions to be followed in the future.
In some cases, organizing the folder according to a timeline, rather than by subject, could help ensure patients keep their instructions straight.
Either way, while some patients may be absent-minded beyond a hospital's ability to control, discharge folders do everything possible to encourage them to keep their post-care materials in one place.
IV. Make The Folder Part Of Your Marketing Information
Custom-printing allows you to create a discharge folder that incorporates your hospital's brand, making it a marketing piece as well as a tool for improving care. Your discharge folder might include the following features to make the transition easier for patients.
-
Phone numbers and emails for emergency contact
-
Addresses for offices in your referral network
-
Maps to yourselves or common referral partners
-
A calendar, which could be filled in by the discharge nurse
-
Common care tips, or a Frequently Asked Questions sidebar
-
Critical warnings that should be seen often
-
Promotional messaging, useful for elective-procedure clinics
There's a psychological factor here, beyond the convenience of having this information in one place: When the accordion folder itself is part of the presentation, there's that much more incentive for every patient to keep the info packet together.
Cut Costs And Improve Care With Discharge Folders
There really are few easier ways for a hospital or clinic to reduce their readmission rates. Discharge folders are a true win-win proposition. Every needless readmission prevented saves you money, and will protect the health of your patients.
