Patient education reduces readmissions and ER visits

You’ve always known that patient education was important, but did you know it also makes excellent business sense? Healthcare Finance News reports that:

Patients who have a clear understanding of their after-hospital care instructions are 30 percent less likely to be readmitted or visit the emergency department than patients who lack this information.

The data comes from a new study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and was first reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.  Findings point to an opportunity for a win-win situation between pharma and hospitals.

Currently, one in five patients has a complication or an adverse event, such as a drug interaction, after being discharged from the hospital.  The study reveals that by following the “RED” protocol – Re-Engineered Hospital Program -  hospitals can reduce readmissions by 30% at an average savings of $412 per patient. The secret is to better communicate to patients their after-hospital care.

• Specially trained nurses help patients arrange follow-up appointments, confirm medication routines, and understand their diagnoses using a personalized instruction booklet.
• A pharmacist contacts patients between two and four days after hospital discharge to reinforce the medication plan and answer any questions.

A pharmaceutical product with high hospital usage could compete more aggressively on price when it has data demonstrating lower TOTAL costs. These costs include longitudinal data like after hospital care as well.  But how do you get that kind of data? In three straight-forward steps.

1. Pharma Company teams up with Hospital to implement RED standards for a given condition or disease state
2. Hospital and Pharma co-produce patient education – print, media, web – for use both in-hospital and at home after discharge
3. Patients are educated. Data collected. Resulting pharmacoeconomic interpretation shared between sponsors

This kind of solution would require especially clever communicators; those who can map out a successful strategy that spans multiple financial quarters. These kind of thinkers would be savvy enough to pull it off and  make it pay for itself. For example, a well-constructed deal could derive a revenue stream by licensing the co-produced patient education media to stock photo agencies like Corbis, or by repackaging the educational media for use at other sponors’ hospitals.

It’s a win-win-win situation. Patients win with fewer complications and readmissions. Hospitals win by demonstrating quality performance and attracting more, better-insured patients.  And Pharma wins both formulary status and pharmacoeconomic data for future efforts.

So the question is, who wants to give it a try?

Related Posts

1. 7 Things To Do When You’re Dead In Health Care
2. Eularis Releases “eMarketing Using Social Media” Report
3. More than half of American adults look online for health information.