Grantee Name
Hudson Headwaters Health Network
Funding Area
Expanding Health Care Coverage
Publication Date
May 2011
Grant Amount
$44,835 for planning and $484,375 for program implementation
Grant Date:
February 1, 2008 – January 12, 2011
DOWNLOAD FULL REPORTIn 2007, 18.5% of Glens Falls Hospital’s Medicare patients were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of a hospital admission, compared to the national average of 15%–21% and the statewide average of 12.5%–15%.
These acute care readmissions are costly, often indicate a lack of care coordination, and threaten the financial viability of acute care institutions, especially under the provisions of Federal health reform. Hudson Headwaters Health Network (HHHN) and the Glens Falls Hospital proposed a collaborative approach to reduce hospital readmission rates among the Medicare population. Analyzing Medicare admissions from 2006, they discovered that 1,353 patients were readmitted within 30 days of a prior admission, representing 2,429 admissions. The resulting analysis indicated that 40% of the patients with specific medical conditions accounted for 80% of the admissions (542 patients). HHHN and Glens Falls Hospital focused on developing a program that targeted this population and more directly addressed patients’ needs.
A second NYHealth grant supported implementation and evaluation of this program.