Our Live-in Companions at Assisted Living Services, Inc. love what they do! In a nutshell, they help our seniors stay safe and happy in their homes.
All of our staff are very dedicated and well-trained as either Home Health Aides or Certified Nurses Aides. So we wanted to take a close look at the relationship between having a Live-in Caregiver and hospital readmissions. This is a critical issue because nearly one in five elderly patients are readmitted back to the hospital within 30 days of discharge.
The cost to all of us for Medicare patients being readmitted is $26 billion annually, and some say it is one of the most serious problems facing the U.S. health care system today.
We took a close look at readmission rates for our Live-in clients for fiscal year 2012 and compared them to the national average. The results were astounding. Nationally, Medicare patients have an 18.4% average readmission rate. Our clients only average 4%!
How is it that our clients return to the hospital much less often? Could it be that because every one of our Live-in Companions is supervised by an highly skilled RN? Is it that they promote medication compliance, good nutrition, safety, and good hygiene? Is there some correlation between our Live-in Companions’ ability to quickly recognize and report changes in a client’s condition – before problems become emergencies? Or, is it that the Live-in Companion helps the patient adhere to their medical regimen? We think the answer is all of the above!
