Improve Outcomes and Create Financial Value With CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions

Background

At a 640-bed medical center in Mississippi, readmissions were reduced by 5.1 percentage points in one year using CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions for post-discharge communication. This resulted in a total of 323 patient days prevented in that six month timeframe — or an estimated cost-savings of $1,068,480. This case study highlights how one medical center reduced rehospitalizations within high-risk patient groups, leading to marked financial impacts.

Challenge

The average readmission cost for high-risk patients is estimated at $14,400 per patient, per year. Prior to using CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions, overall readmission rates at this medical center between July 2018 and July 2019 were as high as 16.6%.

Goal

This medical center sought to better engage and communicate with CHF, COPD, HA and PNE patient populations post-discharge in order to identify any pressing clinical issues and address them before they might lead to readmission.

Solution

Once CipherHealth Outreach Solutions were implemented, there was a reduced number of readmissions in each high-risk cohort, the most significant being a 17.0 point readmission rate of PNE patients between July 2020 and December 2020. The key to their success was identifying and clearly communicating with any patients with worsening conditions before readmission was required.

Impact

Clinical reach post-discharge has a profound financial impact. Before CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions, the overall readmission rate for this inpatient program was 10.5%. After, the rate was 5.4%.

The medical center saw a 5.1 percentage point drop in readmission rate in only one year. This was especially important with high-risk patient groups. The annualized estimated readmissions prevented within the CHF program alone was 32.2. By reducing readmissions, this medical center prevented an annualized estimate of 79.2 readmissions within a 6 month period. This had major financial implications: the total readmission cost prevented was estimated at $1,068,48.

At Home With CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions: One Patient’s Story

A 65-year old heart failure (CHF) patient was discharged and upon returning home engaged with CipherHealth’s Outreach solution.

CALL 1 While they had no critical issues, they reported they were not told to weigh themselves daily. A nurse called the patient back to review discharge instructions.

CALL 2 Again, reported no critical issues.

CALL 3 By this time, the patient’s condition had worsened. This triggered a CHF alert and a nurse called the patient, who verbally reported their leg was swollen and painful.

The nurse encouraged the patient to contact their doctor and reminded them when their Home Health RN was scheduled to visit.

Thanks to CipherHealth, this CHF patient was not readmitted within 30 days post-discharge.

Conclusion

There are real financial incentives tied to minimizing unplanned readmissions. With CipherHealth’s Outreach Solutions, this medical center was able to support patients beyond their hospital stay and mitigate excess costs.