The Effects of Telehealth on 30 Day Readmission Rates in Cancer Patients

Quality health care is a topic that has received considerable attention over the last several years. There are few services as important, and as expensive, as health care. As the United States population ages and develops conditions such as cancer, a significant portion of the cost will be shouldered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). To combat this concern, CMS has taken steps to lower payments and apply penalties for hospitals with readmissions within 30 days of discharge from a prior hospital admission. Technology, specifically telehealth, will play an important role in lowering cost and improving quality to health care consumers and payers. Furthermore, it is expected that the same penalties will be applied to hospitals caring for cancer patients in the near future. A research proposal including a brief review of the background, hypothesis, and study design will be explored.

A Matter of Time

In reviewing the literature available on the topic of telehealth and 30 days readmissions, it is noted that considerable attention has been given to patients with heart disease, 30 day readmission rates as a measure of quality of care and to telehealth in general. I was not able to find any articles specifically related to the use of telehealth in the cancer population with regard to readmission rates. I propose that the same consideration should be pointed to cancer patients admitted into the hospital caused by their cancer and cancer treatments. This scrutiny should be given for two reasons. First, it has the potential to reduce the psychological and financial stress of cancer patients and caregivers due to multiple admission into the hospital. Second, according to CMS, penalties known as “payment adjustment” to hospital...

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...cancer patients at one hospital over a span of one year. Keep this data in mind, it would be feasible to have all study participants be included the videoconferencing intervention, then compared against the claims data. This method would be practically problematic because it would be a huge administrative burden to confirm the patients obtained through billing and claims data were not admitted at a hospital outside of the study hospital.

Conclusion

Works Cited

Blessing, J., & Forister, J. (2013). Introduction to research and medical literature for health professionals (Third.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). (2014, April 30). Readmissions Reduction Program. Retrieved May 10, 2014, from http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/Readmissions-Reduction-Program.html