AHCA to Implement Readmissions Reduction Technology

The American Health Care Association (AHCA), the Washington D.C.-based association of long-term and acute-care providers for frail, elderly, and disabled Americans, is implementing a technology, from Lexington, Mass.-based PointRight Inc., a data analytics firm, which aims to help providers reduce readmissions. AHCA says the technology, OnPoint-30, can use minimum data set and analytics to calculate case-mix adjusted hospital readmission rates that inform providers what measures they are doing well in, and where they need to improve.  

"The partnership with PointRight will help give our members access to the right information to make a difference in their performance," Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of AHCA, said in a statement. "As we continue to strive to meet the goals of the AHCA Quality Initiative, PointRight's OnPoint-30 risk-adjusted hospital readmission measure is an important tool to help us build the foundation for a professional benchmark."

The AHCA Quality Initiative is an effort that to further improve the quality of care in America's skilled nursing centers. Members of the association are encouraged to reach defined, concrete goals over the next three years in four core areas, including safely reducing hospital readmissions within 30 days during a skilled nursing facility stay by 15 percent by March 2015.