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Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron, your weekly dose of tips and tricks to achieve excellent performance in your business and career. Join us as we explore deeper into the practical worlds of Lean, Six Sigma, Project Management and Design Thinking. In this episode number 201, we speak again with Johanna Ficatier from the Mayo Clinic about her work to reduce unnecessary hospital readmission. If you're just tuning in for the first time, find all our back episodes at our podcast table of contents at e6s-methods.com. If you like this episode, be sure to click the "like" link in the show notes. It's easy. Just tap our logo, click and you're done. Tap-click-done! Here we go. http://bit.ly/E6S-201 Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

***Reducing Hospital Readmissions ***

I Johanna Ficatier - Biography

Johanna Ficatier is a Senior Health Systems Engineer at Mayo Clinic Rochester (Minnesota), where she also holds the academic rank of instructor in health systems engineering. Johanna has a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, she is also Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Project Management Professional (PMP) certified. Johanna has worked in Japan in the Industrial Equipment and Machine Tools Industry in the positions of Mechanical Design Engineer and Global Engineering Coordinator. She turned to the healthcare industry in 2014, first as a research assistant while pursuing her Master's degree. She joined the department of Management Engineering and Internal Consulting at Mayo Clinic in 2016.

II 30 Day Readmission Rate

a. Key measure of good quality of care and effective care transition

b. Avoidable readmissions result in excess costs and reduced quality of life for the patient

c. Through the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) calculates the expected readmission rate within 30 days, and penalizes the hospitals performing with an excess readmission ratio for certain specific conditions

III All cause readmissions: patients who return to the hospital for any reason within 30 days

a. Readmissions to another hospital are difficult to track

b. CMS defined Performance period based on 3 years of claims data, only captures Medicare / Medicaid patients

IV Goals:

a. Reduce further the 30 day readmission rate

i. All-readmissions UHC target 10.3% (Q4 2015)

ii. Focus on CMS-targeted diagnosis (CHF, AMI, PN, COPD, THA/TKA)

b. Improve the discharge process / care coordination for specific patients population

i. English as a Second Language (ESL) patients

ii. Community patients

V Geography of Readmissions

VI Readmissions by Service

VII Fishbone diagram - Input factors

VIII Key Findings:

a. Need for data for physicians to understand quantitatively their practice / areas for improvement

b. Services such as community care coordinator can be available, but there is a need to make the different proponents aware of it, especially in big hospitals

***Reducing Hospital Readmissions ***

Outro: Thanks for listening to episode 201 of the E6S-Methods podcast. Stay tuned for episode 202, "Lean Six Sigma for Good - Part 1." We speak again with Brion Hurley about his new book and the best ways for Lean Six Sigma practitioners to use their powers for good. Don't forget to click "like" or "dislike" for this episode in the show notes. Tap-click-done! If you have a question, comment or advice, leave a note in the comments section or contact us directly. Feel free to email me "Aaron," aaron@e6s-methods.com, or on our website, we reply to all messages. If you heard something you like, then share us with a friend or leave a review. Didn't like what you heard? Join our LinkedIn Group, and tell us why. Don't forget you can find notes and graphics for all shows and more at www.E6S-Methods.com. "Journey Through Success. If you're not climbing up, you're falling down." Leave a Review! http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

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