Disparities

‘Communities of Care’ Model Saves $5 Million In Hospital Costs

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Connecticut has saved an estimated $5.4 million in Medicare costs since 2010 by reducing re-hospitalizations of patients through a collaborative “communities of care” model in place in 14 regions around the state, including Hartford, New Haven, Milford, Meriden and Torrington. The estimate by Qualidigm, the state’s Medicare quality improvement organization, coincides with a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that showed a marked decrease in both hospitalizations and readmissions of Medicare patients in regions where quality improvement organizations (QIOs) coordinate interventions that engage community partners to improve care after discharge. Hospital clinicians and their community partners in the 14 regions of Connecticut have stepped up “to find solutions (so that) patients are benefitting from enhanced coordination among providers across the care continuum,” said Dr. Mary Cooper, vice president and chief quality officer of the Connecticut Hospital Association, which is working with Qualidigm on the “communities of care” model. Readmitting Medicare patients to the hospital within a month of discharge is a frequent—and expensive — occurrence. A new report published this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that hospitals and their community allies made little progress from 2008 to 2010 at reducing readmissions for elderly patients.

Fines & Sanctions

State Hospitals Face 2nd Highest Rate Of Federal Penalties Nationwide

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Connecticut fared second-worst in the country in the percentage of hospitals hit with federal penalties for selected quality-of-care measures and in the overall rate of loss of Medicare reimbursements associated with those penalties, new federal data shows. Eighty-six percent of the state’s 30 acute-care hospitals were penalized under Medicare’s Value-Based Purchasing Program, an incentive program created under the Affordable Care Act to reward hospitals on a number of quality measures related to treatment of patients with heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and certain surgical issues, as well as patient satisfaction. Overall, the state’s hospitals lost .15 percent of their Medicare reimbursement, compared to a .02 percent average loss nationally, the data shows. In addition to the penalties on quality measures, 23 Connecticut hospitals lost Medicare funding because of high rates of readmitting patients within 30 days of a hospital stay. Four faced the maximum loss, a 1 percent reduction in funding: Griffin Hospital in Derby, the Hospital of St.

I-Team In-Depth

Surgical Errors Climb, Bed Sores Decline In State’s Hospitals

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Reports of wrong-site surgeries increased 62 percent in the past year in Connecticut hospitals, while the number of patient deaths or disabilities resulting from surgery or falls also rose, a new state report shows. At the same time, reports of patients suffering from serious pressure ulcers declined, as a number of hospitals made progress in preventing the painful bed sores. The new Adverse Event Report, compiled by the state Department of Public Health and covering 2011, marks the second year that acute-care hospitals and other medical facilities have been publicly identified by name, as they report errors that caused harm to patients. The five hospitals with the highest rate of adverse events in 2011, calculated per 100,000 inpatient days, were: Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, in Torrington (49.2); Sharon Hospital (35.4); New Milford Hospital (32.9); Stamford Hospital (19.7); and the Hospital of Central Connecticut, in Southington and New Britain (19.3). In terms of the sheer volume of events, Yale-New Haven and its affiliated Hospital of St.