RUSH deployed a three-pronged strategy—data, collaboration, and real-time adjustments—to drive down readmissions across the system.
Reducing readmissions ranks among the most persistent challenges health systems confront. An estimated 15% of Medicare patients return to the hospital for unplanned treatment within 30 days of discharge, costing Medicare roughly $17 billion each year.
The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), established under the Affordable Care Act in 2012, sharpens the incentive to act. Under the HRRP, hospitals face financial penalties when their risk-standardized 30-day readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia exceed expected levels.
RUSH University System for Health, a nationally recognized academic health system, includes RUSH University Medical Center, RUSH Copley Medical Center, and RUSH Oak Park Hospital, along with an extensive provider network and numerous outpatient care facilities. The system also encompasses RUSH University, which enrolls more than 2,500 students across RUSH Medical College, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences, and the Graduate College. With this expansive reach, RUSH recognized that reducing readmissions demanded a coordinated, systemwide response.
To confront this priority, RUSH focused on three connected strategies: data, collaboration, and real-time adjustments.
Stronger data partnerships
RUSH partners with Vizient to unlock the full power of data in its readmission-reduction efforts. A longtime user of Vizient’s data and analytic tools, RUSH relies on the Clinical Data Base (CDB) to build custom reports and dashboards, benchmark performance against peers, and drive annual planning.
Vizient programs accelerate improvements in patient care. Through the Vizient Performance Improvement Stroke Collaborative, RUSH standardized care by maximizing internal resources. Stroke outpatient nurses conducted follow-up phone calls within 48 hours to review discharge summary notes, care plans, and patient status. Over a 12-month period, the collaborative achieved 27 fewer readmissions, avoiding an estimated $694,000 in potential costs.
CDB data empowered RUSH to measure key metrics in real time and target improvement efforts with precision.
Collaborating to improve patient care
RUSH also joined the High Utilizer Collaborative, a network of more than 80 participants. Members implemented an evidence-based, multi-visit care pathway tailored to the needs of patients who frequently access acute care.
Because RUSH was building its own systemwide readmission strategy at the time, the collaborative equipped caregivers to address the root causes of frequent acute care use. Case management met with each patient at bedside, using motivational interviewing techniques to uncover the behavioral, social, and environmental drivers behind utilization. Patients then connected to post-acute services.
Analytics pinpointed high-utilizer patients and measured progress with precision. CDB insights continue to deliver trend analyses, progress updates, and a baseline for future planning. Together, these efforts equipped RUSH with a repeatable approach to identifying high-impact opportunities, refining care pathways, and tracking progress over time.
Turning insight into sustained improvement
RUSH multiplies value by scaling leading strategies to solve contemporary challenges, drawing on support from Vizient Analytic Improvement Managers and collaborating with like-minded organizations in real time.
“Being able to quantify and compare metrics against some of the world’s best hospitals helped our teams accelerate what we’re doing well and identify opportunities to make everything go right, one patient at a time,” says Dr. Stein.
RUSH will continue to harness Vizient’s offerings and performance data to identify top opportunities for improvement and advance the health system’s journey to become a top performer nationally.
Reducing readmission rates: 4 vital steps
RUSH’s Dr. Brian Stein, pulmonary critical care physician, and Tom Webb, associate vice president of quality analytics, share their top learnings for a successful readmissions-reduction initiative
- Have the right data
- Understand your patient population
- Connect the dots across multiple services
- Gain leadership buy-in
