Using Patient Engagement Apps to Reduce Hospital Readmissions

Back when Christopher Meckel, MD, an orthopedic surgeon with Monterey Spine & Joint was a resident, joint replacement surgery didn’t center the patient the way it does today. Most of the considerations happened inside the surgeon’s head, foregoing patient engagement and raising the risk for hospital readmissions.

A serious, acute episode might not get caught early on, landing the patient in the costly emergency department, or finding themselves readmitted to the hospital. That readmission could spur out-of-pocket patient costs and hamper clinical quality measures and reimbursement rates for the hospital.

Things have evolved quite a bit since then, first with medical manuals that patients theoretically could access—although it wasn’t always understandable, Meckel noted—and now to patient engagement apps.