Background: Facilitating safe transitions of care is a common concern for the discharging hospitalist. Telephone calls are the most common method of contact for post-discharge outreach. These are labor-intensive and therefore limited in scope. To better support patients after hospital discharge, we designed and implemented a 30-day automated texting program. In a pilot study, this [...]

Background: Facilitating safe transitions of care is a common concern for the discharging hospitalist. Telephone calls are the most common method of contact for post-discharge outreach. These are labor-intensive and therefore limited in scope. To better support patients after hospital discharge, we designed and implemented a 30-day automated texting program. In a pilot study, this [...]

Background:   Five percent of Medicare’s patients account for almost 50 percent of its cost. The same 5:50 rule holds true for other insurances. The ongoing changes in health care like Affordable Care Act, Meaningful Use, ICD 10 transition, and Value Based Purchasing has placed acute care hospitals like ours at risk for significant financial [...]