St. John’s Regional Health Center
Following Heart Failure Patients After Discharge Avoids Readmissions
St. John’s Regional Health Center has very low readmission rates for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia—the three conditions for which hospitals report readmission rates to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Its rates are better than the top 10 percent of hospitals reporting.
Performance Improvement Strategies
- telephone calls to all heart failure patients to answer questions and remind them about the importance of having a follow-up visit with their personal physician
- use of an interactive voice response telemonitoring program for heart failure patients
- telephone and electronic notification to patients’ personal physicians about patients' hospitalization and need for follow-up visits within one week
