Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center has launched a program in unplanned care to improve efficiency and quality of care provided before hospital admission.
Four things to know:
1. The program, established by VUMC's department of emergency medicine, aims to address systemic inefficiencies in unplanned care that can increase costs and delay treatment, according to a Jan. 28 health system news release.
"Unplanned care can occur in walk-in clinics, telehealth visits and emergency departments, and some will require hospital admission to address their unexpected health challenges," Jin Han, MD, program co-director and professor of emergency medicine, said in the release. "Aligning the right care, at the right time, in a patient-centric way is uniquely challenging for unplanned care."
2. The program aims for three strategic goals:
- Supporting investigators in their unplanned care studies
- Developing a community of research groups, partners and trainees focused on unplanned care research
- Addressing challenges in unplanned care research and quality enhancements
3. Older adults are a particular focus of the initiative, as they are often vulnerable to healthcare system inefficiencies. For example, paramedics visiting older adults' homes could determine whether an emergency department visit or hospital admission is necessary.
The release said the program could also identify ways to minimize complications by providing care as soon as possible during admission and exploring whether follow-up home visits by paramedics could reduce readmission risks.
4. The initiative is supported by a $1.3 million endowment from VUMC's department of emergency medicine and funding from the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services Research.