Hospital benchmarking process - Rate of unplanned re-admissions

[D.Salman]

Dear Experts,
we are benchmarking our hospital with two other hospitals, for example , if the rate of unplanned re-admission rate is higher (worst) than the two hospitals, so what we suppose to do?
Thanks.

[antoine.dias]

Originally Posted by D.Salman

Dear Experts,
we are benchmarking our hospital with two other hospitals, for example , if the rate of unplanned re-admission rate is higher (worst) than the two hospitals, so what we suppose to do?
Thanks.

I would :

1) Look for possible reasons why the rate is that high.
2) Look for appropriate action(s) against those reasons.
3) Check potential effect of the proposed action(s)
4) Implement those actions that are most effective.
5) Follow up on effectiveness.
6) Look for further improvement.
7) Start again at 1)

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

Antoine

[M Greenaway]

Find out why and fix it ?

Sorry if that sounds an abvious answer.

[tyker]

Originally Posted by D.Salman

Dear Experts,
we are benchmarking our hospital with two other hospitals, for example , if the rate of unplanned re-admission rate is higher (worst) than the two hospitals, so what we suppose to do?
Thanks.

In addition to the prvious replies, make sure you are making a valid comparison. If one hospital carries out more complex medical treatment than the others, differences in the readmission rate may be understandable.

Can you get a bigger sample?

Is there any published data which would allow you to get a bigger picture and, hence, a more accurate benchmark?

[M Greenaway]

Indeed Tyker, what you suggest would be part of my 'find out why' response.

There are many reasons why this comparison shows some difference, does it even reflect that there is some superior quality in treatment at one location, as perhaps is the purpose of the benchmark excercise, or is it simply that they treat illnesses more prone to re-admission (as just one example of a mirriad of reasons) ?

[Jim Wynne]

Originally Posted by D.Salman

Dear Experts,
we are benchmarking our hospital with two other hospitals, for example , if the rate of unplanned re-admission rate is higher (worst) than the two hospitals, so what we suppose to do?
Thanks.

There's been some good advice so far, but I think that unplanned readmissions might be information that a hospital might not be too eager to share; before you do a lot of work you might want to try and determine how accurate the reporting might be.