Reducing Hospital Readmission Rates With Enhanced Provider Communication

The Challenge

Ignite Medical Resorts, a post-acute care organization with locations across 20 states, combines advanced medical rehabilitation with high-end hospitality.

To deliver high-quality care, Ignite needed access to healthcare professionals outside of regular hours – especially during night shifts. “Many readmissions are after hours on weekends and holidays. It can be difficult to reach someone at one o’clock in the morning when a decision needs to be made,” shared Tammy Brown, Director of Clinical Informatics for Ignite.

Without seamless physician support, their residents often experienced high hospital readmission rates.

Ignite recognized that the right telemedicine solution could help remove these communication barriers, improving care for their residents and lowering hospital readmissions.

The Solution

Virtual Health provides a fully integrated solution with one-click access to qualified physicians ensuring optimal care for residents, improved staff satisfaction, streamlined operations, and increased revenue opportunities.

By providing access to qualified clinicians on nights, weekends, and federal holidays, post-acute care providers can ensure consistent care delivery and optimize care plan management.

Additionally, Virtual Health supports lower hospital readmissions and penalties, improved quality scores, and the ability to effectively capture revenue while providing holistic resident care. By reducing manual processes, staff burnout is decreased, and valuable time is saved for resident care.

The Outcome

By integrating Virtual Health with their electronic health record (EHR), Ignite saw a 10% decrease in their hospital readmission rate within three months.

Brown explained, “It’s been good for the nurses, and especially for the residents. It has also been good for our business, because ultimately, reducing those rehospitalizations achieves more referrals from the hospitals.”

She emphasized that use of Virtual Health has improved staff experience at Ignite, reducing stress for nurses by increasing the level of support they can quickly access if a resident’s status changes unexpectedly. “It’s a real selling point for our facility,” Brown noted.

Additionally, Ignite leveraged Virtual Health to increase collaboration with local physicians in their network, supporting more familiarity between physicians and Ignite’s nursing staff.

Learn More

If you’re interested in learning more about how Virtual Health can help your organization achieve results like those experienced by Ignite Medical Resort, contact our team for more details.