CMS Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents Releases Annual Report

On February 3, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the annual report summarizing impacts from the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents in 2014. The project is designed to test ways to reduce avoidable hospitalizations among long-stay nursing facility residents.

During 2014, all seven sites generally showed reductions in Medicare expenditures relative to a comparison group, with statistically significant declines in total Medicare expenditures at two sites. All sites also generally showed a decline in all-cause hospitalizations and potentially avoidable hospitalizations, with four sites showing statistically significant reductions in at least one of the hospitalization measures.

Several AMDA members have been participating in this project and in the report AMDA’s Know-it-All Before You Call product was noted as a tool used to help standardize communication between nurses and physicians in these facilities.

For additional information, visit the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents webpage.