Home » Pediatrics » A Tech-Driven Strategy to Reduce Pediatric Readmissions

A Tech-Driven Strategy to Reduce Pediatric Readmissions

Preventable pediatric readmissions cost children’s hospitals and pediatric providers a staggering $1.5 billion annually. Find out how digital patient engagement can reduce readmissions by supporting families early on with education, reminders, follow-up, escalation to care when needed – and by addressing their SDOH needs

By The Get Well Team

The impact that pediatric readmissions can have on hospitals and health systems is beyond staggering—annually, it’s estimated, that preventable readmissions alone costs $1.5 billion.1

Also consider the toll readmissions can have on families—particularly those on Medicaid or parents or caregivers who have children with two or more chronic conditions. Not only does caring for a sick or injured child bear an extra heavy weight, the likelihood that the child will continue to suffer and need to be readmitted is greater with these groups.2

Both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Pediatric Quality Measures Program (PQMP) have set reducing pediatric readmissions as a priority. They view readmissions  as indicators of care quality, as frequent readmissions can suggest inadequate discharge planning, gaps in follow-up care or insufficient patient education. Providers who do not make the mark are at greater risk for decreased reimbursements or potential penalties.When children’s hospitals and pediatric providers also place reducing readmissions as a priority and put a robust digital engagement strategy in place, it can lead to multiple benefits that can support the system as a whole: decreased readmissions; better outcomes, greater patient satisfaction and the potential for increased reimbursements.3

How Memory Plays a Role – and Why It Matters

The issue of pediatric readmissions is multifaceted. However, a significant contributor is related to patient or caregiver memory. Although physicians, nurses and other clinicians work hard to educate patients, parents and caregivers at the time of discharge, research shows:

  • Up to 80% of information presented at the time of discharge is forgotten4
  • The greater the amount of information that is provided, the lower the proportion that is correctly recalled 5

“Because of this, a patient or caregiver may not know when to call their provider until it is too late and a readmission is unavoidable,” explains Kailin Lieu, M.D, Senior Director, Ambulatory and Clinical Programs at Get Well.

On the non-medical side, there are other factors that can impact readmissions as well, including those related to a family’s social determinants of health (SDOH) needs. For example, if they lack transportation or stable housing, or have difficulty accessing prescription medications, it can also impact their ability to respond to their child’s care needs and can increase the likelihood of readmissions. 

How the Right Technology Can Make an Impact

The right digital patient engagement can bring multiple benefits to providers, patients, parents and caregivers. At the same time, it’s important to recognize that its purpose is not to replace, but reinforce important messages clinicians share with patients and caregivers at discharge. 

Additionally, Dr. Lieu stresses that the technology a children’s hospital or pediatric provider chooses should allow them to check in with patients, parents and caregivers consistently and early on. “Not only does this engage them during a crucial window of time, but it also improves clinical staff workflow by, for example, reducing the amount of time they spend making phone calls to check in.”

Consider How a Solution Will Impact Readmissions

When searching for the right a digital patient engagement solution that can help keep children from unnecessarily being readmitted while helping you reduce readmissions, consider the following: 

1. Choose a Solution That Addresses SDOH Needs 

One of the biggest challenges in pediatric care is addressing the non-medical factors that influence a child’s health. Families from at-risk or low-income backgrounds, including those on Medicaid, often face barriers such as limited access to transportation, lack of stable housing, or difficulty accessing prescription medications. Research shows that children from low income families who experience SDOH needs like these have higher rates of hospital readmission.6

Get Well Addresses SDOH Needs: Get Well’s platform screens for SDOH issues and connects families with the resources they need to address these challenges. Whether it’s helping families find local food banks, access transportation services, or schedule necessary medical equipment deliveries, the technology can help reduce the need for readmissions, since issues are addressed early on, before they escalate into bigger problems.

2. Choose a Solution That Tailors Its Care Plans

It’s important that families understand and remember the ins and outs of their child’s diagnosis and at-home care. However, because much information shared at discharge is not remembered, patients, parents and caregivers need easy-to-access, easy-to-understand patient education where they can find answers to their questions post-discharge. (Also be aware that patients using in-home therapy, durable medical equipment, or nursing services are more likely to be readmitted.7 Having support with tools and services early on can help reduce readmissions.)

Get Well Provides Tailored Care Plans: Get Well care plans contain easy-to-access, easy-to-understand education tailored to a child’s diagnosis. They also provide information about specific signs and symptoms related to that diagnosis, so caregivers better understand when they should seek medical attention for the child. By improving comprehension and helping to ensure that families understand their child’s care plan, Get Well can help prevent many readmissions that are due to lack of knowledge or understanding. 

3. Choose a Solution that Offers Tech-Enabled Education and Interventions

If a solution does not allow parents and caregivers to easily access information and education at any time, it could contribute to unnecessary readmissions. Additionally, without consistent communication, follow-up, reminders and interventions, caregivers and parents can miss important information or appointments.

Get Well Offers Tech-Enabled Education and Interventions: Get Well’s digital interface includes user-friendly resources that help families manage their child’s health. Post-discharge interventions range from follow-up calls, to digitally navigating patients to follow-up visits to providing care-at-home instructions that target patients at the point of discharge and support them through the first critical weeks after discharge may help reduce the readmissions.  

4. Choose a Solution that Can Identify Patients Who Are Not Improving as Expected

If a digital patient engagement solution cannot identify children who are not improving as expected post-discharge, it can contribute to higher readmissions. 

Get Well Identifies Patients Who Need Help Post-Discharge: Get Well incorporates symptom checkers and applicable metric collection into its pediatric solutions as well, so, if needed, a child’s case can escalate to the clinical care team so issues can be addressed earlier on. 

Get Well’s digital patient engagement also checks in to make sure families understand discharge instructions, whether they are having any trouble picking up prescriptions or understanding how to administer them to the child, whether they have a follow-up visit scheduled, and whether there are any SDOH needs. They will receive help in any of these areas, whether it’s sending a link where the parents can schedule a follow-up visit; alerting the clinical care team to a child’s case; or linking a caregiver to a live Get Well navigator who can help and direct the family to community resources. 

Finally, keep in mind that tech-enabled follow-up care is especially effective for pediatric patients with chronic conditions, such as asthma, diabetes, and congenital heart defects, as well as those recovering from major surgeries. Research shows that the presence of a complex chronic condition, hospitalization for ARDS lasting 14 days or longer, and receipt of a tracheostomy during the index hospitalization were all associated with increased rates of 30-day, 60-day and 1-year readmissions.8

Join the Pediatric Leadership Cohort

Get Well hosts quarterly Pediatric Leadership Cohort sessions that bring together pediatric leaders across the country to share best practices. One of our more recent sessions was dedicated to the role of Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) in Pediatrics and was attended by clinical leaders from a number of pediatric healthcare organizations across the country. If you are a pediatric care leader and would like to join our Pediatric Leadership Cohort, register here.

  1. Children’s Hospital Association: https://www.childrenshospitals.org/news/childrens-hospitals-today/2024/10/reading-the-signals-of-readmission-risk ↩︎
  2. Ibid ↩︎
  3. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/value-based-programs/hospital-readmissions ↩︎
  4. Exp Aging Res 1996;22: 403-28 ↩︎
  5. Ibid ↩︎
  6. Pediatrics (2017) 140 (5): e20171427 ↩︎
  7. Children’s Hospital Association: https://www.childrenshospitals.org/news/childrens-hospitals-today/2024/10/reading-the-signals-of-readmission-risk ↩︎
  8. JAMA: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2809122 ↩︎
A man and a woman smile as they look at a smartphone together. Text boxes around them offer options for Mental health resources, Screening, and Education with buttons labeled Find local support, Answer questions, and Watch 5 Videos for me, respectively, enhancing patient care through improved communication.

Get Well 360 empowers healthcare organizations to deliver the digital experience that consumers expect across every step of the healthcare journey - in the community, at the point of care, and beyond.

Schedule a Demo