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Ecumen Awarded Grant To Reduce Hospital Readmissions Through Improved Medication Management For Seniors

Ecumen has been awarded a $1.7 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to improve medication management by the elderly as a way to reduce hospital readmissions.

The new medication management program will be based on a successful pilot project started last year at Ecumen Lakeshore in Duluth, Minn., in partnership with Thrifty White Pharmacy, which was developed to ensure patients being discharged fully understand their medications and how to take them at home.  The pilot program received the Aging Services of Minnesota’s “Leading Change Innovation Award” earlier this year.   Under the DHS Performance Improvement (PIPP) grant, 9 Ecumen rehabilitation centers will implement the model program and measure results over the next three years.

“Taking medications as prescribed after leaving a care center can be a significant challenge for the elderly, especially when they are taking multiple drugs,” said Shelley Matthes, RN, director of quality improvement at Ecumen.  “We’re focusing on ways to expand the collaboration between patients and pharmacists to make sure people know when and how to take their medications and what to do if they have problems.” 

As part of the discharge process, a nurse will do an evaluation to make sure patients can read and understand their medication labels and can open the bottles before they go home. Then a nurse holds a meeting with the patients and their families to discuss any issues and initiates an interactive web-based session with a registered Thrifty White pharmacist. The pharmacist then explains to the patient and family how to take all the prescribed medications and answers questions. 

The patient receives an action plan for medication management before discharge and a 30-day supply of medication through Thrifty White.  Then the pharmacist follows up in three days for a check-in and does another follow-up in three weeks.

“Just making sure that patients fully understand the basics of their medications and how to take them reduces readmissions,” said Matthes, who cites studies showing that about 40 percent of seniors take five or more medications.  “Often people are so glad to be going home that they have trouble focusing on anything else.  The detailed discharge procedure, the pharmacy education and the pharmacist’s follow-up all work to minimize mistakes or lapses in memory.”

The nine Minnesota Ecumen communities participating in the program are Ecumen Detroit Lakes in Detroit Lakes; Ecumen Bethany Community in Alexandria; Ecumen North Branch in North Branch; Ecumen Parmly LifePointes in Chisago City; Ecumen Scenic Shores in Two Harbors; Ecumen Litchfield in Litchfield; Ecumen Pathstone Living in Mankato; and Ecumen-managed Grand Village in Grand Rapids and St. Mark’s Living in Austin.

by origineight

Rand Corporation Study Illustrates Need For New U.S. Approaches on Paying for Long-Term Services and Supports

Anyone who has provided care for a loved one at home knows how exhausting it can be.  Turns out not only is it exhausting, but it has a huge price tag and most people are caregiving for senior relative and friends while holding down another fulltime job.  Talk about huge opportunity costs.

The cost applied for informal caregiving of elderly people by friends and relatives in the United States comes to $522 billion a year, according to a new RAND Corporation study.  Three out of five caregivers also are in the labor force. Working-age people under the age of 65 provide 22 billion of those 30 billion caregiving hours, and they often lose income due to reduced work hours. Because their hourly wages are higher than those over 65, they account for the largest portion of the informal costs of caregiving, or $412 billion a year — about midway between the replacement cost of paid unskilled caregiving ($221 billion) and paid skilled caregiving ($642 billion).

Replacing that care with unskilled paid care at minimum wage would cost $221 billion, while replacing it with skilled nursing care would cost $642 billion annually.  Imagine if people could get the right services at the right time in the right place and have dollars to pay for it.  America's nonprofit senior services organizations and their partners on the The LeadingAge Financing Reform Task Force see a very different future.  They've created Pathways, a  report that outlines ways we could address this national and state problem differently and better instead of exhausting people, depleting their income and moving many Americans to poverty because of the inefficient way America pays for long-term services and supports.  We need a new path as outlined by the Pathways Task Force.

by origineight