Disseminating evidence-based care into practice

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has launched the Partnership for Patients initiative, promising a 20% reduction in readmissions nationally across all payers by December 31, 2013. To address this ambitious goal, CMS has awarded grants to Hospital Engagement Networks, Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations, and the Community-based Care Transitions Program, as well as instituted new penalties for excessive readmission that began in October 2012. National efforts aimed at realizing this goal are predicated, in part, on our effectiveness in disseminating evidence-based care models into practice to improve outcomes and reduce costs. The Care Transitions Intervention (CTI) has been developed, tested, and disseminated to over 750 health care organizations in 40 states nationwide. Four factors promote wide-scale CTI dissemination. The first factor focuses on model fidelity whereby adopters are given insight into which elements of the intervention can be adapted and customized. The second factor concerns the selection of Transitions Coaches and reinforcement of their role through training and participation in a national peer learning network. The third factor relates to model execution with attention to integrating the intervention into existing workflows and fostering relationships with community stakeholders. The fourth factor involves cultivating the support to sustain or expand the intervention through continually making the business case in a changing health care landscape. The lessons learned through the dissemination and implementation of the CTI may be generalizable to the spread of a variety of evidence-based care models.