KC Project Aimed at Reducing Readmissions

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nobody wants to leave the hospital — and then have to go back in. But one in five Medicare patients is readmitted within a month. The total cost of readmissions to Medicare is 17 billion dollars a year.

The government is funding a project in the metro aimed at reducing those readmissions by linking patients with specially-trained nurses or social workers to aid them in the transition from the hospital to the home or nursing home.

FOX 4 Medical Reporter Meryl Lin McKean says the Community-based Care Transitions Program will include 15 hospitals.