The American Hospital Association on Nov. 20 released a toolkit to help hospitals and health systems reduce preventable inpatient admissions for “ambulatory care sensitive conditions.” These are conditions that could be avoided with adequate primary care, such as asthma, low back pain and uncomplicated pneumonia. The toolkit includes resources from five national organizations that can help address the barriers to preventing such conditions, including a shortage of primary care physicians, ineffective communication between primary care and subspecialist doctors, and a lack of patient engagement.
On Monday, Dec. 15, at 3 p.m. ET, AHA’s Physician Leadership Forum will host a webinar on how reducing preventable inpatient admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions can improve care and lower costs. According to a 2013 AHA Physician Leadership Forum white paper, reducing preventable inpatient admissions for these conditions is one of five areas where hospitals, in partnership with their clinical staff and patients, should look to reduce non-beneficial care through appropriate use of medical resources.
Previous toolkits are available at www.aha.org/appropriateuse.
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