Society of Hospital Medicine’s Project BOOST Reduces Medicare Penalties and Readmissions

SHM’s Project BOOST is accepting applications for its 2014 cohort, giving hospitalists and hospital-based team members time to complete the application and receive buy-in from hospital executives to participate in the program.

And this year is the best year yet to make the case to hospital leadership for using Project BOOST to reduce hospital readmissions. More than 180 hospitals throughout the U.S. have used Project BOOST to systematically tackle readmissions.

Last year, the first peer-reviewed research on Project BOOST, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, showed that the program reduced 30-day readmissions to 12.7% from 14.7% among 11 hospitals participating in the study. In addition, media and government agencies taking a hard look at readmissions rates have also used Project BOOST as an example of programs that can reduce readmissions and avoid Medicare penalties.¹

Accepted Project BOOST sites begin the yearlong program with an in-person training conference with other BOOST sites. After the training, participants utilize a comprehensive toolkit to begin implementing their own programs, followed by ongoing mentoring with national experts in reducing readmissions and collaboration with other hospitals tackling similar challenges.

Details, educational resources, and free on-demand webinars are available at www.hospitalmedicine.org/projectboost.

Brendon Shank is SHM’s associate vice president of communications.

Reference

1. James J. Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program. Health Affairs website. Available at: http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=102. Published November 12, 2013. Accessed January 31, 2014.