A guide to help acute care facilities expand their current Medicaid readmission efforts is now available from AHRQ. The new resource, titled Hospital Guide to Reducing Medicaid Readmissions, can help acute care facilities accomplish the following:

• Adapt or expand existing Medicaid readmission reduction efforts. It helps identify readmission risks, transitional care needs, and adapt best practices from proven strategies like AHRQ’s Re-Engineered Discharge, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s State Action on Avoidable Readmissions, and the Society of Hospital Medicine’s Better Outcomes for Older Adults Safe Transitions to serve the transitional care requirements of Medicaid patients.
• Develop your Medicaid reduction strategy using the guide’s roadmap featuring 13 customizable online tools. The tools can be downloaded individually here.
• Comply with CMS’ Conditions of Participation requirements for a standard, improved, and transitional care for all patients. National, state, and local data show high rates of non-obstetric Medicaid readmissions.
• Develop partnerships across other settings of the healthcare continuum. The tool helps create an inventory of resources and processes to aid building multidisciplinary teams with organizations and facilities offering post-hospital Medicaid transitional services.

The guide is the only federal tool available tailored for the adult Medicaid population. Hospitals at different stages of readmission reduction work can benefit from implementing this guide.  Access the guide here.