Loris, SC—September 23, 2015— McLeod Loris has been awarded a $287,000 grant from the South Carolina Hospital Research and Education Foundation (SCHREF), with support from The Duke Endowment, to implement a care transitions initiative to help reduce the number of patient readmissions. In addition to the grant funding, McLeod Loris will receive technical assistance and participate in a learning and evaluation collaborative, in which lessons learned will be shared with other healthcare systems throughout the Carolinas.

Studies have shown that failure to engage patients, families and caregivers in the care planning process and follow-up after discharge can often result in high readmission rates, compromised health outcomes and increase in costs. McLeod Loris has already begun its patient care transition strategy by hiring Catrice Randall, to serve as the Patient Engagement Specialist for the hospital.

On October 1, 2015, McLeod Loris will launch the new program that will evaluate patients before discharge by using the LACE assessment tool. LACE stands for length of stay, acuity of admission, comorbidities and emergency department visits. Patients admitted to the program must be diagnosed with one of the following criteria: Pneumonia, heart failure or COPD. Randall and her team will educate patients, families and caregivers with the information and community resources needed to help reduce hospital readmission.

“Once a patient is accepted into the program at McLeod Loris, the ultimate goal is no readmission for at least 30 days following discharge,” said Randall. “Within the next two years, we hope to reduce the overall hospital readmission rate by 20%, using the new initiative.”

Randall will be making patient home visits 24-48 hours after discharge to see if there are any current needs at that time. Patients are also encouraged to visit their primary care physician within 7 days after discharge for a checkup.

McLeod Loris is one of 6 hospitals selected in South Carolina to receive The Duke Endowment grant to help improve care transitions for patients and caregivers.

The Duke Endowment is a private foundation founded in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James Buchanan Duke with an initial gift of $40 million dollars. Additionally, $67 million was given in 1925 upon Duke’s death. Since 1925, The Duke Endowment has awarded more than $3.2 billion in total grants in North Carolina and South Carolina. These grants support programs benefitting higher education, health care, child services and rural church life.