9 Ways Hospitals Can Use Electronic Health Records to Reduce Readmissions

The process involved submission of scheduling requests, via EHR, to dedicated schedulers who would make the appointments in real time. The schedulers would notify the primary team, who would communicate with the patient. This system reduced the time to make the appointment and improved scheduler and physician satisfaction.

Medication Compliance after Discharge

Recommendation: Reduce technical and financial barriers to communication of medication list and medication compliance at home.

Sriram Vissa, MD, FACP, FHM, is medical director for informatics and co-practice group leader of the hospitalists for DePaul Hospital, SSM Healthcare, in Bridgeton, Mo. His hospital has improved medication compliance through improved medication reconciliation, improved clarity of discharge instructions, and better pharmacy integration. These interventions and others have reduced readmission rates to 12.81% at 30 days.

Barriers to compliance include procurement, financial issues, health literacy, clarity of instructions, medication lists to primary physicians, and patient portals. The EHR allows insurance integration to make sure that the patient can afford the prescribed medication An electronic connection to an on-site pharmacy makes sure that medications are delivered to the patient’s room prior to discharge. Medication lists are routed to PCPs via continuity of care functionality, which complies with meaningful use stage 2.

Also, the patient portal allows inpatient providers to ask questions about medications or discharge instructions.

Dr. Finkel is a hospitalist at Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., and a member of SHM’s Health IT Committee.