Care Transitions Program Part of Partnership for Patients

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Don Berwick and US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a massive initiative and federal funding opportunity dubbed the “Partnership for Patients.”

This billion dollar commitment from the federal government will be split between two goals:

• Keep patients from getting injured or sicker. By the end of 2013, preventable hospital-acquired conditions would decrease by 40% compared to 2010.
• Help patients heal without complication. By the end of 2013, preventable complications during a transition from one care setting to another would be decreased so that all hospital readmissions would be reduced by 20% compared to 2010.

Home health agencies will be most interested in the Community-Based Care Transitions Program, which will spread $500 million in funding to community-based organizations partnering with eligible hospitals for care transition services that include timely, culturally, and linguistically-competent post-discharge education, medication review and management, and patient-centered self-management support within 24 hours of discharge.

Recently, the solicitation and application have been released after months of waiting and the Home Care Alliance is continuing to encourage eligible agencies that qualify as Community-Based Organizations (CBO’s) to partner with hospitals, ASAP’s, and other providers to submit an application.

Here is the list of pertinent documents for this program:

• Solicitation
• Application
• List of High Readmission Hospitals

Agencies that have any questions regarding this program can contact the Home Care Alliance.

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.