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June 18, 2012 (Cleveland)

Work Groups Assemble to Continue Developing Approaches to Address Community-Wide Care Transitions

A small group of nearly 40 key stakeholders across various healthcare settings came together once again to continue the momentum of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality initiative aimed at improving care transitions and reducing 30-day readmissions across settings at the Case Western Reserve University Wolstein Research Building on Wednesday, June 13, 2012.

This half-day brainstorming session hosted in collaboration with The Center for Health Affairs and Better Health Greater Cleveland was organized into three small work groups, made up of consumers and stakeholders from across various healthcare settings, including acute care, home health, outpatient facilities, long-term care facilities, primary care, and community agencies. Groups focused in three specific care transition areas, including:

• Hospital to Skilled Nursing Facility,
• Hospital to Home, and
• Hospital to Home with Home Health Care

To develop ideas for change working lunch groups utilized a brainstorming process introduced earlier that morning by Janet Moye, PhD, RN, NEA BC, Associate Director for Aligning Forces for Quality National Program Office.  Each group’s goal was to leave with an aim statement and short-term plan for implementing change and innovation to improve care transitions and reduce readmissions in their organizations. The focused work groups will continue to meet regularly to share their plan progress.

The half-day session also afforded participating members from The Center and other key stakeholders the opportunity to share some of the work they have been doing in this area. Prior to breaking into the small working group sessions, representatives from Northeast Ohio regional hospitals including St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, The MetroHealth System, Cleveland Clinic Health System as well as other various key healthcare stakeholders from Kaiser Permanente and a Better Health Greater Cleveland, set the tone for the day by sharing their quality improvement initiatives to improve care transitions and reduce 30-day readmissions within their organization. 

Over the past few years, The Center for Health Affairs has participated in Better Health Greater Cleveland through coordination of the Transitions of Care Collaborative, an initiative under the Better Health umbrella aimed at improving care transitions and helping hospitals reduce readmissions.

If you have additional questions about the Transitions of Care Collaborative, please contact Lisa Anderson at 216.255.3660 or lisa.anderson@chanet.org or Linda Neiding at 216.255.3666 or linda.neiding@chanet.org.