A multi-state project involving 53 hospitals, STAAR was launched by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in May 2009 with grant funding from The Commonwealth Fund. 22 Massachusetts hospitals are enrolled in the initiative. To date, participating hospitals have formed cross-continuum teams and submitted baseline 30-day readmission rates. Now they are busy determining how to improve the patient's transition from hospital to post-acute setting.
Six take-aways from the work to date include:
- Focus on All Readmissions - Not Just Heart Failure Readmits
- Form a Cross-Continuum Team
- Start Measuring your all-Cause 30-Day Readmission Rate
- Determine Your Baseline, Then Track Over Time
- Focus First on Improving Current Processes
- Stimulate the Financial Impact of Reducing Readmissions
The Massachusetts hospitals enrolled in the STAAR initiative include:
- Baystate Franklin Medical Center
- Baystate Medical Center
- Baystate Mary Lane Hospital
- Berkshire Medical Center
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
- Beth Israel Deaconess - Milton Hospital
- Brigham & Women's Hospital
- Brigham & Women's Faulkner Hospital
- Cambridge Health Alliance
- Cape Cod Hospital
- Carney Hospital
- Cooley Dickinson Hospital
- Emerson Hospital
- Fairview Hospital
- Falmouth Hospital
- Good Samaritan Medical Center
- Hallmark Health Systems
- Harrington Hospital
- Heywood Hospital
- Holy Family Hospital & Medical Center
- Holyoke Medical Center
- Jordan Hospital
- Lahey Clinic
- Lawrence General Hospital
- Lowell General Hospital
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Mercy Medical Center
- Merrimack Valley Hospital
- MetroWest Medical Center
- Milford Regional Medical Center
- Morton Hospital & Medical Center
- Mount Auburn Hospital
- New England Baptist Hospital
- Newton Wellesley Hospital
- Noble Hospital
- Northeast Health System
- Norwood Hospital
- Saint Anne's Hospital
- St. Elizabeth's Hospital
- St. Vincent's Hospital
- Saints Medical Center
- South Shore Hospital
- Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care Cambridge
- Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore
- Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Boston
- Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod
- Sturdy Memorial Hospital
- Tufts Medical Center
- UMass Memorial Medical Center
- VA Boston Healthcare System
- Winchester Hospital
- Wing Memorial Hospital & Medical Centers
Reining in Avoidable Readmissions
Hospitals and Health Networks, Feb 2011 issue
The Affordable Care Act sets penalties for hospitals with higher-than-average rates of avoidable readmissions. Here's a primer on the problem and tools to help tackle it.
(Note: As part of the STAAR initiative, hospitals in four states, including Massachusetts, began using a worksheet in January to track their five most recent rehospitalizations.)