With Clinical Commissioning Groups coming under greater financial pressure to control the costs of providing healthcare services and no agreement on Tariff there is likely to be an increasing focus on reducing the levels of ‘avoidable’ readmissions. This year we are starting to see many more commissioners setting clear targets with regards to the level of ‘avoidable’ readmissions and a requirement for providers to have clear action plans as to reduce these. Furthermore there is likely to be an increased level of scrutiny in to readmissions as commissioners seek to apply the associated financial penalties in a more robust manner.
IC Cubed have worked with a number of Trusts and their CCG’s to help them gain greater insight into the quantum and rate of readmissions, perform joint clinical reviews to identify and agree the rate of ‘avoidable’ readmissions and to develop and implement action plans that will lead to an overall reduction in avoidable readmissions.
In a recent assignment for a North West based acute provider the result of our review was a reduction in the rate used by the CCG’s for applying the financial penalty for ‘avoidable’ readmissions by 5%age points, a saving to the Trust of £650k.