AHCA To Apply PointRight® OnPoint-30™ Rehospitalization Metric

WASHINGTON and LEXINGTON, Mass., Aug. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Health Care Association (AHCA), together with PointRight Inc., the industry leader in predictive analytics in the healthcare and insurance industry, today announced that AHCA will incorporate PointRight's proprietary OnPoint-30 methodology of calculating case-mix adjusted hospitalization metric into its national Quality Initiative.

"The partnership with PointRight will help give our members access to the right information to make a difference in their performance," says Mark Parkinson, President and CEO of AHCA. "As we continue to strive to meet the goals of the AHCA Quality Initiative, PointRight's OnPoint-30 risk-adjusted hospital readmission measure is an important tool to help us build the foundation for a professional benchmark."

PointRight uses Minimum Data Set (MDS) data and unique analytics to calculate case-mix adjusted hospital readmission rates that help providers differentiate between areas of excellence and improvement opportunities. 

"These analyses help skilled nursing centers focus on improving care for their residents. They also help centers demonstrate their value to hospitals, insurers and physician groups," said David Gifford, MD, MPH, Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs at AHCA. "Having timely, risk-adjusted information is key for our members, so they know how they are performing compared to others and how effective their efforts are in preventing hospital readmissions from occurring."

Launched earlier this year, the AHCA Quality Initiative is an effort that builds upon the existing work in the long term and post-acute care field by setting specific, measurable targets to further improve the quality of care in America's skilled nursing centers. AHCA members are encouraged to reach defined, concrete goals over the next three years in four core areas, including safely reducing hospital readmissions within 30 days during a skilled nursing facility stay by 15 percent by March 2015.

"Having access to the right information is the first step in making solid, quality improving decisions," said Steven Littlehale, Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer with PointRight. "The opportunity to bring OnPoint-30 to members of the American Health Care Association means facilities can now be more confident that they're using accurate rehospitalization rate information to guide quality-driven decisions. With case-mix adjusted metrics, you can see your strengths and your weaknesses. SNFs need this information to improve and market to hospitals," added Littlehale.

To learn more about OnPoint-30 rehospitalization, PointRight is hosting an introductory, online webinar on September 12th at 1 PM EDT, Managing Rehospitalizations with OnPoint. Interested participants may register at no cost.

About American Health Care Association
As the nation's largest association of long term and post-acute care providers, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) advocates for quality care and services for frail, elderly and disabled Americans. Compassionate and caring employees provide essential care to one million individuals in the Association's 11,000 not-for-profit and proprietary member facilities. For more information, visit www.ahcancal.org. To learn more about the AHCA Quality Initiative, please visit qualityinitiative.ahcancal.org.

About PointRight Inc.
PointRight is the industry leader in providing data-driven analytics and Web-based tools that measure risk, quality of care, rehospitalization, compliance and reimbursement accuracy of the healthcare and insurance industries. Using some of the largest and best databases in the industry, our nationally recognized clinical staff, researchers, and technologists expertly translate disparate data into usable information and insight. For more information, visit www.pointright.com.  

SOURCE PointRight Inc.; American Health Care Association