Reducing heart failure risk standardized readmissions rates (RSRRs) continues to be a challenge in the United States. Among Medicare beneficiaries, the U.S. national rate for heart failure RSRRs is 23, and Georgia only has 3 hospitals with heart failure RSRRs that are better than the national rate. The hospital component of the chronic care model (CCM) was the theoretical framework used in this study because the model was designed to assist heath care organizations in improving chronic care outcomes. Researchers have indicated that the Hospital to Home Initiative (H2H), a national quality improvement campaign launched in 2009, is effective in reducing RSSRs. However, very little research has been conducted to determine which specific H2H strategies and categories of strategies are associated with reducing heart failure RSRRs in Georgia. The purpose of this nonexperimental, cross-sectional quantitative research study was to address this gap. The H2H Survey used in this study is a valid instrument that was previously used in a national study. Surveys were sent to 35 hospitals in Georgia participating in the H2H. A series of one-way ANOVAs were used to test the hypotheses. Key findings were as follows: (a) heart failure RSRRs were reduced when hospitals implemented the H2H, (b) the number of implemented H2H strategies was associated with a reduction in heart failure RSRRs, and (c) categories of strategies were associated with a reduction in heart failure RSRRs. These findings can be used for promoting positive social change because hospital administrators can implement changes using effective strategies to reduce both heart failure RSRRs and government penalties associated with these readmissions.

Hospital readmissions are a source of reduced payment as mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The number of dollars used for hospital readmissions has sky rocketed above $17 million for heart failure alone. The changes in the ACA reimbursement guidelines has put stress on many hospitals as they are facing reduced income, increased use of resources, and increased length of stay. This project evaluated the implementation of Project BOOST, its components, and their predictability for hospital readmission. Sample groups were evaluated both pre- and post-implementation of Project BOOST, which included individuals aged 18 and older, who were of Anglo, Hispanic or Native American descent, and living in Northern Arizona. A retrospective chart review was performed and descriptive and predictive statistics were used to analyze obtained data. Patients with cardiovascular disease admitted to the study hospital have high risks for readmission, such as problem medications, polypharmacy, psychological Issues, and principal diagnoses. Integrating elements from Project BOOST significantly decreased 30-day hospital readmissions. Data from this study revealed a statistically significant reduction in 30-day hospital readmission rates from 22% in the pre-intervention period to just 4% in the post-intervention period. Patients who did not receive the risk assessment tool were 14 times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of the index hospitalization.

Reducing hospital readmissions is critical to the success and sustainability of both hospitals and the communities in which they reside. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore organizational strategies hospital leaders use to reduce hospital readmissions. The study was limited to hospitals in Southwest Missouri with readmission rates below the state average. Complex adaptive systems was the conceptual framework for the study because of the complex nature and numerous stakeholders of the healthcare system. Data were collected from a purposive sample of 15 hospital leaders via semistructured interviews and an analysis of organizational artifacts. Member checking was used to increase reliability and validity of the results. Data analysis was conducted using Yin's 5 step process including qualitative analysis software to identify major and core themes. The major themes identified in the study included population health, hospital operations and patient interactions, leadership and mission, and barriers to reducing readmissions. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve services hospital team members provide to patients, which may improve the overall health of the communities they serve. By promoting improved health outcomes for local communities, society benefits through reduction of costs to the federal government and an overall improvement in the health of communities.

More than 5 million Americans have heart failure, with approximately 5% of those affected being veterans. As the number of patients with CHF continues to rise, new treatment options are needed to improve the quality of care. Current studies show Telehealth is one treatment option. The purpose of this scholarly project was to determine if veterans diagnosed with CHF were able to maintain optimal weight and blood pressure following participation in Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) program. The CCHT program provides care to veterans, through the use of monitoring devices placed in their home. Bandura's self-efficacy theory was used as a guide to develop veterans' self-management skills. A retrospective chart review was conducted on 26 veterans with CHF enrolled in the CCHT program. Post participation weight and blood pressure were analyzed at 16 weeks to determine whether there was a difference from the pre-participation measures. There was no change in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, or weight levels during the 16-week period. Limitations of this project were the small sample size (n = 26), attrition rate (n = 43), no data on nurse interaction, and a short follow-up period. Implications for nursing practice and enhancing the program's efficacy are recommended. This scholarly project has the potential to support social change by expanding veteran's access to care.

Readmission of skilled nursing facility (SNF) residents has become a financial and quality-of-care concern for facility leaders. SNF administrators do not know whether nurse staffing levels are impacting readmission rates. The Affordable Care Act included measures to monitor and improve quality and to penalize SNFs that have high readmission rates. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between SNF nurse staffing levels and readmission rates using the Skilled Nursing Facility Readmission Measure (SNF RM). The theoretical framework for the study was Donabedian's structure, process, outcome model. The research questions addressed the relationship between nurse staffing levels and rehospitalization percentages for SNFs, and the relationship between RN staffing levels and rehospitalization percentages. A quantitative methodology was used to analyze publicly reported secondary data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services staffing files and SNF Value-Based Purchasing (SNF VBP) program data. Pearson's correlation was used to examine the relationship and strength between nurse staffing levels and the SNF RM. The sample included 374 SNFs across Georgia that participated in the SNF VBP program. Findings from the multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance indicated no statistically significant relationship between nurse staffing levels and SNF RM rates. Facility characteristics across Georgia showed some variations in staffing levels and SNF RM rates. Findings promote positive social change by providing SNF leaders with needed information to make decisions about staffing needs when considering staffing above the state averages. Health care leaders and policymakers might use the findings when considering recommendations for staffing regulations.

Heart failure is ranked as one of the leading causes of hospitalizations and mortality among adults of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Telemonitoring, as a homecare intervention for heart failure management, has been used across all groups although the benefit for Hispanics not established. The purpose of this retrospective, quantitative study was to determine the differences in hospital readmission between Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White patients with heart failure disease who either received or did not receive home telemonitoring services from a homecare agency in Connecticut. The research questions for this study examined the effect of home telemonitoring, race, age, gender, and insurance on heart failure hospitalization across the 3 groups. The chronic care model was used as the theoretical framework for this study because it offers a method for reforming healthcare to ensure optimization in chronic disease management. A purposive sample of 138 records of patients admitted between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2017 with a diagnosis of heart failure provided the data for the study. Data were analyzed by conducting a simple and multiple logistic regression analysis. The key findings of the simple logistic analysis showed that only Hispanics who used telemonitoring were almost 4 times less likely to be readmitted to the hospital compared to Hispanics who did not use telemonitoring (p = 0.04). The multiple logistic analysis revealed race, age, gender, and insurance were not significant predictors of readmissions (p > 0.05). The findings from this study may promote positive social change by providing healthcare providers with a better understanding of the effects of home telemonitoring for treating adult Hispanic patients with heart failure disease.

Healthcare costs have risen from 13.8% in 2000 to 17.9% in 2009 (Gordon, Leiman, Deland, & Pardes, 2014). Poor transitional care has been identified as a cause of the high healthcare costs (Naylor et al., 2013; Obama, 2013). In 2009, the Department of Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented a national reform of outpatient care to create Patient-Aligned Care Teams (PACTs) with a goal to improve transitional care and reintegration into outpatient care through registered nurse case managers conducting discharge telephone follow-up calls. However, discharge telephone follow-up calls have not been explored within the VHA. This study explored the relationships among discharge telephone follow-up calls, selected Veteran characteristics including the length of index hospital stay, and 30-day all cause hospital readmissions between fiscal years 2011 and 2013. Hospital readmissions were explored in parallel time periods to the timing of the discharge telephone follow-up calls. Study data were collected retrospectively from VHA inpatient and outpatient records. Descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency, bivariate statistics, and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. The study found 124,069 Veterans were discharged from the VHA from 2011 to 2013. Of those discharges, 15,954 (12.86%) were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days and 35.06% of the readmissions occurred within the first seven days after discharge. Discharge telephone follow-up calls increased from 312 in 2011 to 26,549 in 2013. Increasing Veteran age, number of comorbidities, length of index hospital stay, and being identified as frequently hospitalized in the previous year were significantly related to hospital readmissions at each of the hospital readmission time frames (within two days, between three and seven days, and between eight and thirty days after hospital discharge). This study identified a relationship between discharge telephone follow-up calls and the parallel hospital readmission time period. However, only discharge telephone follow-up calls within two days were found to decrease the likelihood of hospital readmissions and only hospital readmissions within two days after discharge (OR=0.595). The relationships between discharge telephone follow-up calls and hospital readmissions potentially explains previously mixed results and suggests two potential explanations. One, discharge telephone follow-up calls have a limited relationship to hospital readmissions and a short duration of protective effects preventing hospital readmissions. The second explanation is self-selection bias confounds the relationship between discharge telephone follow-up calls and hospital readmissions. Both explanations suggest future research and clinical practice should focus on exploring bundled transitional care interventions as a method to reduce hospital readmissions.

INTRODUCTION: There currently exists a wide variation in anesthesia perioperative management for pediatric patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomy. The purpose of this retrospective chart review is to compare outcome indicators by using patient demographics. This study aims to establish evidence based guidelines for safe, efficient and effective anesthetic management for patients undergoing laparoscopic appendectomies by analyzing selected outcome indicators and metrics in relation to Surgical-End-to-Transport (SET) time: defined as the time from the end of surgical time until the patient is ready to exit the operating room. METHODS: After institutional review board approval, all laparoscopic appendectomies performed from 2012 through 2014 (n=790) were queried. Using the median SET time of 14 minutes, two groups were established as follows: Group A (n=431), SET time between 0 and 14 minutes, and Group B (n=338), SET time of 14 minutes and longer. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to compare readmissions by American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) status and reports of high pain with PACU (Post-Anesthesia Care Unit) duration, gender, age, and surgical duration using IBM SPSS Statistics (version 21.0, IBM, Armonk, NY). RESULTS: To limit confounding variables, patients over the age of 21 and those assigned an ASA Physical Status Classification 3 or 4 were excluded. Remaining cases (n=769) were then used to calculate readmission incidence. The median SET time for the study population was 14 minutes, while the median surgical and PACU durations were 58 minutes and 59 minutes, respectively. The readmission incidence rate was 300 per 10,000 (n=23, 3%). The study population consisted of 56% males and 44% females. Females had a higher incidence of readmission (n=13, 3.8%) than males (n=10, 2.3%), while males had longer SET times than females (Group A Males 52.33% vs. Group B Males 60.30%, p=0.0276). There was no difference in readmission incidence rates between ASA I (n=473) and ASA II (n=296) patients (ASA I readmits 3.2 % vs. ASA II readmits 2.7%, p=.711). Patients who reported high postoperative pain (n=75) were more than twice as likely to be readmitted than patients who did not report high pain (p=.071). Ethnicity frequencies were collected as follows: 60.3% White, 6.8% Black or African American, 3.6% Asian, and 29.1% Other. DISCUSSION: Males had significantly longer durations in SET times, and they experienced fewer readmissions than females. There were no significant findings related to the ethnic demographics. Further analysis identifying intraoperative and postoperative anesthesia management for both groups will be performed. This study was subject to the following limitations: retrospective design, incomplete data acquisition, and inconsistent EMR documentation. The correlations and results are preliminary in nature and will serve as a framework for future analyses.

Class of 2016 Abstract / Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether overweight/obese children with asthma have different systemic steroid dosing practices and asthma related readmission rates compared to normal/underweight children with asthma. Methods: Medical charts of patients admitted between October 2013 and October 2014 for an acute asthma exacerbation were reviewed retrospectively. The primary objective was to compare the average weight based systemic steroid dose between overweight/obese (Group 1) and normal/underweight (Group 2) with asthma. The secondary objective was to compare asthma-related readmissions between both groups. Data collected included demographic data; 30 day, 90 day and 6-month asthma-related readmissions; asthma medications prior-to-admission, during hospitalization and upon discharge. Results: One hundred fifty nine admissions (147 patients with recorded BMI) were evaluated. There was no significant difference in the proportion of obese, overweight, healthy and underweight patients who had 6-month asthma readmissions (p > 0.05). The mean systemic steroid, including prednisone and methylprednisolone, weight based dosing was similar between Group 1 and Group 2 (p > 0.05). Likewise, the proportion of patients with 6-month readmissions was similar in both groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Acute asthma exacerbation pediatric patients whom are overweight/obese were not being dosed differently to normal/underweight patients and were not at risk for increased asthma-related readmission in the following 6 months.

Inadequate discharge planning for individuals with chronic illnesses or injuries is associated with increased readmissions to the hospital or rehabilitation facility where the original treatments were administered. To help ensure the recovery of discharged patients and avoid readmissions, discharge planners guide medication and care processes. The rate of readmissions was high in a stand-alone rehabilitation center due to ineffective discharge plans. Patients, family members, and caregivers lacked knowledge about medications, treatments, and self-care guidelines after the patient left the facility. The purpose of this project was to ascertain the impact of improved discharge processes using the (a) IDEAL Discharge Planning Overview, Process, and Checklist; (b) the teach-back Method training for discharge nurses; and (c) the Postdischarge Rehabilitation Services Follow-Up Tool incorporating telephone calls to all participants during Weeks 1, 2, and 4 postdischarge. Lewin's theory of planned change undergirded this project. According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data, the rate of readmissions among the 50 participants was 4.4%, compared with 6% (all-facility readmission rate) during the same quarter of the prior year. Findings from this project suggest that reductions in readmissions were associated with improvements in discharge planning, training of caregivers, and the use of national tools to standardize practices in reducing readmissions. The implication of this project for positive social change is that patient-centered inpatient rehabilitation care and patient-centered care following discharge may reduce readmissions, reduce costs, improve reimbursement, and reduce deterioration of patients' conditions postdischarge.