Are the needs of inpatients any different?
Since a dramatic reduction of readmissions is so
evident for patients with congestive heart failure,
why not apply the methodology to other disease
categories in other hospitals throughout the State
and nation? Can the lessons of the educationally
oriented approach be applied to prenatal care,
obstetrics, and other departments of the hospital?
What might the cost benefits of such a project be
to a hospital or an insurance company? What
methods of financing patient education programs
are possible?
These and other related questions need to be
studied in the light of rising hospital costs and
occupancy rates, not to mention the emotional
and psychological cost of illness to the patient and
his family.