As Maryland's hospitals work to reduce readmissions, dozens of novel initiatives are popping up all over the state - some organically, as offshoots of relationships that hospitals have nurtured with community partners for years; others centralized and more formal. Meanwhile, the state's care coordination work group is preparing to recommend a large investment in data infrastructure to support coordination efforts throughout Maryland.

On Wednesday, MHA hosted a packed house of nearly 200 Maryland nurses, care coordinators, doctors, clinical resources managers and others who came to learn more about reducing Medicaid readmissions. Of Maryland's roughly 78,000 readmissions last year, nearly 75 percent were for Medicare and Medicaid patients, despite those populations accounting for just 59 percent of all discharges. In all, caring for patients who are readmitted costs more than $1 billion per year.

These are the hot-spots that hospitals can focus on to make a significant dent in our readmissions rate, a goal that is taking on even greater urgency. While Maryland's hospitals are reducing readmissions faster than the nation as a whole, because the national reduction is fairly significant, we must move even quicker to meet the five-year reduction goal outlined in the modernized Medicare waiver. And with just three-and-a-half years remaining in Phase 1, time is short.

That's why sessions like the one Wednesday - where attendees heard about successful intervention strategies from those on the front lines, as well as new data analyses from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and renowned readmissions reduction expert Dr. Amy Boutwell- are so important. In an environment where experimentation abounds, sharing our experiences and what made them successful is an essential component in favorably bending the readmissions curve.

Readmissions reduction is not a solo activity. It takes the concerted efforts of hospitals, post-acute care providers, social support agencies and many others to co-produce change. This is a shared venture and our early improvements are a testament to the hard work you've done so far in laying the foundation for future success.

With so many models and initiatives being tested, then refined, then re-tested, it's difficult to say precisely what recipe will effect dramatic change. But the multitude and variety of experiments you're conducting to tackle the problem has created an environment ripe for success.

Readmissions reduction is not just a Maryland goal; it's a national one, and there's nowhere else in the country where so much energy is being focused on such a specific health care outcome. Whether the right formula to drastically reduce readmissions is found here in Maryland remains to be seen, but the result of your hard work is that patients are realizing immediate benefits - from better care management, improved inpatient experience and lower costs. 

 The Maryland Healthcare Education Institute has offered leadership and management education for hospital leaders for many years, but with the advent of Population Health, MHEI has expanded its programming for physicians and other non-hospital providers. For physicians, MHEI is offering a Physician Leadership program along with its Annual Leadership Conference in October. Non-hospital leaders (e.g. physician office managers, social service agency employees, independent therapy managers, etc.) may take advantage of the many programs MHEI offers at its Elkridge offices or contract with MHEI to provide that programming on your campus. MHEI's goal is to assist all health care organizations in their efforts to improve through better information, education and leadership.