Audrey Weiner

With the new penalties for rehospitalizations underway, LeadingAge Chairwoman Audrey Weiner said that providers are working hard to improve the process that moves patients from hospitals to aftercare.

Keeping the flow of information open and engaged during the change is a key component, Weiner told McKnight’s Senior Editor Elizabeth Newman in an on-camera interview.

“Providers are doing a number of things,” Weiner explained at LeadingAge’s recent annual meeting. “They’re partnering with hospitals to look at transitions. … In terms of assuring that there’s continuity of care, that the lab tests are communicated, that there’s one clinical pathway that’s based on best practices.”

Non-clinical professionals are also a key cog when it comes to transitional care.

It’s important that “the families, who are the caregivers, understand what the expectations of them are [so that] when [residents] go home, they’re going home again with the transitions covered.”

For a full transcript of the Weiner interview, click here.