Reducing Acute Hospital Readmissions Through Telehealth Technology

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Reducing Acute Hospital Readmissions through Telehealth Technology
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that utility of telehealth technology (THT) has the ability to improve patients’ health and reduce costly hospital readmissions for those living with chronic diseases in the United States (US). Nationally, most of our healthcare expenditures are allocated to caring for patients with chronic conditions. Bunnell et al. (2012) suggested that it cost the US more than 2.5 trillion dollars to manage and treat chronic disorders. Because of less than optimal management of chronic diseases in the outpatient setting, these patients are frequently readmitted to the hospital.
THT is a valuable tool that can be deployed to increase…show more content…
Else, complications can lead to numerous readmissions and longer length of stays.
Impact of Issue on Quality of Life and Financial Systems
The current workflow my unit employs to educate patients regarding their chronic condition is inadequate. Because of busy patient assignments, I usually have very little opportunity to ensure that patients thoroughly comprehend their care needs. Essentially, we use what is referred to as teach back. This entails the nurse teaching the patient about proper management of his or her health condition. Once the educational session is complete, nurses ask patients to explain to them what they have learned. Perhaps this method of teaching might be effective if I had time to perform the actual teaching; however, I have very little opportunity to do so and there are no signs that this dilemma will change anytime soon. Instead of spending adequate time with patients and providing a thorough educational experience, I am inundated with unskilled tasks. Therefore, my patients leave the hospital with very little understanding of their treatment regimen. Moreover, many of these patients are readmitted to my unit within 30 days. Consequently, hospitals are penalized by third-party payers when this occurs (See Appendices A).
My unit is already dealing with some very challenging financial issues due to reduced reimbursements from third-party payers. Regrettably, hospitals with patients readmitted within 30 days of a recent
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