Quality Partners of Rhode Island’s Safe Transitions Project achieved a significant milestone this week – this project became the first Medicare-funded project in the nation to receive approval to implement an innovative computerized education program, Project Re-Engineered Discharge (RED), at patients’ hospital beds. Medicare’s approval affords Rhode Island hospitals an important opportunity to empower patients using this tool. Empowering patients can help prevent problems during care transitions – the times when one provider stops treating a patient and another starts.
“Rhode Island is aiming to be a national leader for care transitions,” says Dr. Stefan Gravenstein, Clinical Director for the project, “and partnering with providers across the state to use Project RED will help us realize our shared goals.”
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,…
Learn More
The organization’s year-old Medicare project aims to reduce re-hospitalization rates, which are as high as 25% among high-risk Medicare patients. Re-hospitalization affects patients’ quality of life and incurs significant cost to the healthcare system. The vision revolves around a healthcare system where patients move seamlessly between healthcare providers: a system in which patients understand their medications, know who to contact with questions (and when), and are supported by healthcare professionals who have access to the right information, at the right time.
Project RED enables the provision of comprehensive patient education systematically, with the use of a touch-screen computer animation, named Louise, which patients and their caregivers use at their hospital bedsides. Louise is customized to each patient, so patients receive information about their own conditions and medications.
“One of the amazing things about Project RED is that patients enjoy Louise and value the information she gives them,” says Dr. Gravenstein, who is also a practicing geriatrician at Rhode Island Hospital and a Medical Director at both Bethany Home and Tockwotton Home. “Louise has the one thing that nurses want to provide, but can’t ensure: as much time as patients need.”
Importantly, Project RED optimizes nursing time, by generating reports that show what patients understand and what they don’t. Nurses can then tailor their education to the areas in which patients need extra support. And if hospitals systematically implement the Project RED model, research demonstrates that they can reduce their readmission rates by 5% or more—avoiding costs of approximately $325 per patient.
To implement Project RED, Quality Partners of Rhode Island has formed a partnership with Boston University, which pioneered Project RED’s development, and Engineered Care, Inc., an IT (information technology) firm contracted to license and support its use nationwide. This partnership, which is unique among all 50 states’ Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations, extends throughout the Safe Transitions Project. Dr. Brian Jack, Principle Investigator for Project RED, Co-Chairs the Safe Transition Project’s Leadership Advisory Board.
“Hospitals are looking carefully at their readmission rates,” says Dr. Jack, who is an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. “In addition to quality of care, readmission is now a major public policy issue—since Medicare has made it clear that hospitals with high readmission rates will be financially penalized.”
Quality Partners of Rhode Island plans to showcase Rhode Island’s experiences nationwide as Project RED’s use spreads. In the future, Project RED may be an important vehicle for providing patient education to non-English speaking hospital patients. Boston Medical Center is currently exploring the possibility of translating the system into Spanish or other languages.
The Safe Transitions Project runs through August 2011, and includes seven hospitals, 20 home health agencies, and 57 nursing homes. Additional information is available on Quality Partners’ Web site at www.qualitypartnersri.org.
