Reengineering hospital discharge: A protocol to improve patient safety, reduce costs, and boost patient satisfaction

Implementing patient safety improvements does not often yield immediate cost savings. Yet new research shows a way to reduce hospital readmis-sions dramatically and save nearly $400 per admis-sion in doing so. Rehospitalization, typically defined as hospital readmission within 30 days of a hospi-tal discharge, is a common, expensive, and life-threatening event too often associated with gaps in follow-up care. New evidence shows that when hos-pitals focus on the discharge process, patient care and safety improve and costs decline. Given these advantages, it is difficult to under-stand why more hospitals have not already over-hauled their patient discharge protocols. The answer is counterintuitive: Until recently, properl