Improving Transitions of Care Between Hospital and SNF: A Collaboration Supporting the Accountable Care Vision

Summary: Working with a network of 40 skilled nursing facilities to hone the hospital-to-SNF transfer of care has accomplished two goals for Summa Health System: readmissions and lengths of stay for patients released to SNFs have been reduced, and the experience has made hospitals and SNFs more accountable for both the quality and cost of care they provide. Carolyn Holder, manager of transitional care for Summa Health System, describes what had to happen before this critical care transition could improve and why physicians had to rethink their approach to hospital-to-SNF transfers. Holder and Michael Demagall, administrator of Bath Manor and Windsong Care Center, an SNF participating in the network, will describe their collaboration during "Improving Transitions of Care Between Hospital and SNF: A Collaboration Supporting the Accountable Care Vision," a 60-minute webinar on April 6, 2011.