Reducing COPD Rehospitalizations.

Area of Science:

• Pulmonary Medicine
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Self-Management

Background:

• High rates of 30-day rehospitalization exist for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) following hospital discharge.
• Rehospitalization increases mortality risk and negatively impacts patient health outcomes.
• A specific home healthcare agency reported a 36.4% 30-day rehospitalization rate for COPD patients prior to intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a COPD self-management care plan packet intervention.
• To reduce 30-day rehospitalization rates among home healthcare patients diagnosed with COPD.
• To improve timely provider follow-up and medication reconciliation for COPD patients.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project was conducted from January 2019 to July 2019.
• Home healthcare nurses provided a COPD self-management care plan packet to patients.
• Data on 30-day rehospitalizations, provider follow-up, and medication reconciliation were collected pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• 30-day rehospitalizations for COPD patients decreased from 36.4% to 15.4% post-intervention.
• Timely provider follow-up increased from 79% to 88%.
• COPD medication reconciliation at admission improved from 79% to 84%.

Conclusions:

• The COPD self-management care plan packet intervention was effective in reducing rehospitalizations.
• The intervention also improved key aspects of COPD patient care coordination.
• Study generalizability is limited by small sample size and implementation variations.