From Our Experts

What Do Hospital Readmission Penalties Look Like In FY2015 For Colorado?

By Katie Lewandowski, MPH, Project Director at the Colorado Hospital Association

On Oct. 1, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Medicare readmissions penalties for fiscal year (FY) 2015 for the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP). CMS estimates it will levy $428 million in fines against 2,610 hospitals throughout the country, including 27 Colorado hospitals.

Baby Boomers: They're Coming and Know What They Want

By:
Phillip W. Heath, InnovAge

It's true. 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 each day, and it'll keep happening for the next 20 years or so. And as it happens, Baby Boomers will join other generations in the line for healthcare resources. While some describe Baby Boomers as "entitled," in this instance knowing what one wants-and this applies to any generation-is critical.

In The News

Efforts to Enable Americans to Age in Place are Expanding, Survey Shows

By Fredrick Kunkle

From The Washington Post, November 2014

As the United States undergoes a dramatic demographic shift toward an older population, there are significantly increased efforts to help the elderly stay in their homes as they age. Area Agencies on Aging are changing their roles and services to support this trend.

Full Article

To Reduce Medicare Readmissions, Healthcare Embraces Post-Acute Partnerships

From PR.com, September 2014

Post-acute partnerships, for example, collaborations between home health, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and hospices, have emerged as a key strategy to reduce hospital readmissions. These partnerships serve to streamline processes and care transitions, educate and align staff, and implement changes of value to patients.

Full Article

5 Lessons from Healthcare Partnership Success Stories

By: Leslie Small

From Fierce Healthcare, December 2014

One of the best ways to improve population health management is through collaboration between healthcare facilities and community leaders, and a new study examines a variety of successful partnerships to make recommendations for how organizations can work together to improve public health.

Full Article

Tools and Resources

A Toolkit for Long-Term Care Employers: Increasing Influenza Vaccination

The CDC has provided a new resource: A Toolkit for Long-Term Care Employers: Increasing Influenza Vaccination among Healthcare Personnel in Long-term Care Settings.

This toolkit has a number of resources to help long-term care facilities and others provide access to influenza vaccination for their workforce and to help employers understand the importance of influenza vaccination for their employees.

Learn More

Healthy Transitions Webinars Available

Recordings and slides of our monthly webinars are located on the Webinar Archive page of the Healthy Transitions Colorado Website.

Healthy Transitions Colorado Webinar Archive Page

In This Issue

What Do Hospital Readmission Penalties Look Like In FY2015 For Colorado?

Baby Boomers: They're Coming and Know What They Want

Efforts to Enable Americans to Age in Place are Expanding, Survey Shows

To Reduce Medicare Readmissions, Healthcare Embraces Post-Acute Partnerships

5 Lessons from Healthcare Partnership Success Stories

Tools and Resources

Upcoming Events

Research and Innovations

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Be our Expert: Passionate about care transitions? Implementing innovative interventions? Share the work you're doing by writing a blog for our From the Experts section in the newsletter! Let others know what you've been doing and what kind of success you've had improving transitions of care. Please contact us for more information.

Share your stories: Sharing stories can lead to positive change. Tell us about your experience as a provider, patient or caregiver and inspire others to make changes and help find new ways to improve care across Colorado. Submit stories here for inclusion on the HTC site.

Upcoming Events

1.15.15 - Broadcast: End of Life and How Communities Can Become Conversation Ready

1.21.15 - HTC January Webinar - PACT

1.29.15 - Broadcast: When Everyone Knows Your Name - Identifying Patients with Complex Needs

March 2015 - In-Person Training: Reducing Avoidable Readmissions by Improving Care Transitions

Research and Innovations

Managing Posthospital Care Transitions for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities (Paywall)

Problems at Home After Surgery? Go Back to Same Hospital, Study Says

Hospice Expansion Decreases Hospital Readmissions Among All Nursing Home Residents, Study Shows (Paywall)

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Stay Connected

Healthy Transitions Colorado is a collaborative effort, focused on aligning and accelerating existing efforts to improve transitions of care for Coloradans. Our guiding principles are simple - by working together to break down the silos of health care, we can foster true community care coordination across facilities, specialties, and practices.

Contact us!