31 Aug Clinical Interventions Reduced Hospital Readmissions After PCI Stent Surgery
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jason Wasfy
Jason H. Wasfy, MD, MPhil
Assistant Medical Director, Massachusetts General Physicians Organization
Director of Quality and Analytics
Massachusetts General Hospital Heart Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Reducing preventable readmissions after PCI is a way to both improve the quality of care for our patients and improve value for patients with coronary artery disease. Through a variety of tactics, we were able to reduce the 30 day readmission rate for patients after PCI by nearly half. Keep in mind that this is only the readmission rate to our hospital, so we will need to confirm these results with data including patients who may have been readmitted to other hospitals after a PCI at Mass General.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: With evidence based tactics to reduce hospital readmissions, provider organizations and hospital systems can effectively reduce readmission rates after PCI. The key I think to our success was that we were very directed in the interventions that we created. We studied the problem of PCI readmission both in a local registry, and derived a risk model from data involving hospitals throughout all of Massachusetts. Too often, quality improvement efforts do not leverage high-quality data. Part of the reason I think we were successful is that we had access to excellent data, and could understand the needs of our patients.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: First of all, I think we need to confirm these results including other hospitals in Massachusetts. We do not have access to these data yet. If our patients are being readmitted to other hospitals a higher rate, then we haven’t really improved anything in a meaningful way. We are working on this.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: I really do believe that rigorous efforts at quality improvement, including diligent attention to local data, can really improve our patients’ lives.
MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.
Citation:
Clinical Interventions to Reduce Preventable Hospital Readmission After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Varsha K. Tanguturi, MD, Elizabeth Temin, MD, MPH, Robert W. Yeh, MD, MSc,Ryan W. Thompson, MD, Sandhya K. Rao, MD, Aditi Mallick, MD, Elena Cavallo, ALM, Timothy G. Ferris, MD, MPH and Jason H. Wasfy, MD, MPhil
CIRCOUTCOMES.116.003086Published online before print August 23, 2016,doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.116.003086
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Last Updated on August 31, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD