Forrest General Hospital selects Loopback Communications
Forrest General Hospital selects Loopback Communications to reduce Readmissions
Dallas, TX – July 20, 2010
Loopback Communications has signed a definitive agreement to provide Readmission Reduction Services for Forrest General Hospital. Since 1952, Forrest General Hospital has been a leader in medical excellence in South Mississippi. The hospital has grown from the original 90-bed facility into a 512-bed, level II regional trauma center hospital system. Forrest General is continually measuring quality and implementing improvements, as a part of its commitment to ensure positive patient experiences. Forrest General was awarded the 2009 Consumer Choice Award from National Research Corporation, based on feedback from consumers in the Hattiesburg area who ranked Forrest General top of the list based on four essential consumer metrics, including best overall quality, best image and reputation, best doctors and best nurses. In 2009, Forrest General also became the first hospital in Mississippi to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Award achieving recognition for Cardiovascular Service Excellence.
“Forrest General is committed to continuous quality improvement and patient outcomes”, says Angela Pace, Chief Quality Officer. “We recognized a need to improve our 30 day Readmission rates with more consistent patient follow-up. We realized that existing staff alone could not provide comprehensive post discharge follow-up phone calls with the volume of discharges that we have each month. Loopback will help us incorporate best practices for the assessment of individual patient risk for readmission and post discharge follow-up .”
“Consistent post-discharge follow-up is essential to helping patients make a successful transition from the hospital to home,” says Neil Smiley, Chief Executive Officer at Loopback Communications. “We are excited to have the opportunity to assist Forrest General in improving outcomes for their patients.”
What is Readmission Reduction Service?
Challenge: With the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, hospitals that receive government monies (Medicare/Medicaid) must take steps to reduce 30 day readmission's or face significant financial penalties. The measurement period for determining hospitals’ relative performance on readmissions has already begun and will be based on a three-year moving average. Studies have shown that a consistent, post-discharge follow-up program is highly effective in reducing readmission rates. However, most organizations who attempt to manage follow-up programs with case managers and health coaches, struggle with tremendous added costs and cumbersome manual process of identifying patients, coordinating follow-up, documenting interactions and measuring results.
Solution: Loopback Communications has developed a hosted Readmission Reduction Service that blends the latest technology with the live interaction of hospital care coordinators to achieve significant reductions in readmissions while placing minimal demands on clinical and IT resources. Loopback’s unique application employs proprietary methodology to calculate the likelihood of readmission for discharged patients, enabling the hospital to devote finite human and financial resources to the most critically important at-risk patients. Through a five-step technology-enabled process, the Readmission Reduction Service:
IDENTIFIES patients for enrollment
ASSESSES transition readiness
MONITORS condition
ALERTS care coordinator
CONNECTS patient with care coordinator
With the Loopback Readmission Reduction Service, healthcare organizations can achieve significant reductions in readmission rates by extending the reach of care coordinators beyond the point of discharge. In fact, we guarantee it. If you don’t experience these results, Loopback Communications will refund the investment in full.
Please contact Chris Blansett for more information.
Loopback Communications, LLC.
Chris Blansett, MBA
Vice President, Business Development
About Loopback Communications, LLC.