Hospital-To-Home Discharge Process Still Plagued By Poor Communication, Incomplete Patient Information

Patient transitions from the hospital to post-acute care providers, including home health agencies, continue to be plagued by incomplete medical records and missing information. Gaps in post-acute care transitions are so common, in fact, that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is calling out hospitals for putting patients and their families in harm’s way. CMS has identified areas of concern related to missing or inaccurate patient information when a patient is discharged from a hospital, A lack of communication between referring hospitals and home health agencies is not a new trend. When a patient is discharged from a hospital, it is important to provide their post-acute provider and caregivers as applicable with the appropriate patient information related to a patient’s treatment and condition in order to decrease the risk of readmission or an adverse event. In the same survey, 27% of respondents said poorly managed or delayed care transitions of patients had a “very” negative impact on care.