No matter what your initiative is, one thing is vital: fail fast. Discover how failing fast can lead you to succeed boldly with this insider case study.
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COPD Insider
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No matter what your initiative is, one thing is vital: fail fast. Discover how failing fast can lead you to succeed boldly with this insider case study.
You’ve been here before. Rising COPD readmission rates wreaking havoc on your institution—costing time, money, and valuable resources. While you try your best to set each patient up for sustainable success, change is difficult and demanding. And with change comes the risk of failure. So, what do you do?
Whether it’s making changes to a current COPD readmissions program or implementing a new one, insider Keith T. Kanel, MD, MHCM, FACP, says that in order to succeed boldly, you need to fail fast.
Read on to discover how various failures during the creation and implementation of his COPD readmissions reduction program ultimately led to big success.
Kanel helped establish a COPD readmissions reduction program where nurse case managers met with COPD patients in the hospital, one by one. The program seemed like a valid plan at first, but as it unfolded the COPD readmissions results they were expecting just weren’t there. The impact was minimal, payers were taking notice, and the program was not sustainable. A big change was needed—and needed fast.
Kanel helped establish a COPD readmissions reduction program where nurse case managers met with COPD patients in the hospital, one by one. The program seemed like a valid plan at first, but as it unfolded the COPD readmissions results they were expecting just weren’t there. The impact was minimal, payers were taking notice, and the program was not sustainable. A big change was needed—and needed fast.
Once Kanel realized the initial program was failing, he quickly gathered his team, brainstormed, and immediately developed a new model that was more patient-centric, known as the Primary Care Resource Center.
Staffed with specially trained nurses and pharmacists, the beginning stages of this program focused solely on extending care beyond the hospital and into patients’ homes. This helped them form COPD care plans that covered the entire continuum of care.
If goals are not being reached, identify what areas need to be changed and how you can optimize them by:
Initially, the Primary Care Resource Center focused solely on COPD management, but there was a problem. With COPD comes a plethora of comorbidities, which were not factored into the program.
Initially, the Primary Care Resource Center focused solely on COPD management, but there was a problem. With COPD comes a plethora of comorbidities, which were not factored into the program.
In order to meet the needs of more patients, Kanel immediately expanded the scope of disease management beyond just COPD. Now, the COPD readmissions reduction program was able to help treat COPD patients who also suffered from heart failure and myocardial infarctions.
Look for opportunities to expand the breadth of your newly establish program by identifying:
We ended up coming across numerous patients with comorbidities we did not account for in our original scope, and needed to adapt quickly."
As the scope of disease management was bigger than ever, the management of medication became an issue. A key care team member responsible for ensuring that patients received the medication they needed, when they needed it, was unaccounted for. This could have been a critical oversight, but Kanel adapted quickly.
As the scope of disease management was bigger than ever, the management of medication became an issue. A key care team member responsible for ensuring that patients received the medication they needed, when they needed it, was unaccounted for. This could have been a critical oversight, but Kanel adapted quickly.
Kanel acted fast, adding a full-time pharmacist to the Primary Care Resource Center team. Immediately hiring and training a pharmacist specifically for COPD allowed the program to have a dedicated team member to ease the transition of patients from hospital to home. Now, as a part of their COPD care plan, each patient had the medication they needed when they were discharged and understood how adherence could change the course of their care.
Look for opportunities to expand the breadth of your newly establish program by identifying:
Our investment in people really helped us do a broad project and not have to worry about every single detail. They drove themselves and that's why we saw the results we did."
Once Kanel was able to fail fast, the Primary Care Resource Center succeeded boldly. The final prototype allowed for them to compete and win a large grant. And, with the same prototype, Kanel was able to open six additional health centers that achieved staggering results during the three years they ran.
