Milford Regional launches readmission reduction project

Courtesy Milford Regional Medical Center, pictured here in a rendering, has launched a readmission reduction project, funded by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

Write a Comment

By Emily Micucci

In the second phase of a service improvement program funded by the state Health Policy Commission, the Milford Regional Medical Center will begin work to reduce its 30-day hospital readmission rate by 25 percent over the next two years.

According to a hospital statement, Milford Regional will use $1.3 million in HPC funding to address care for patients with high hospital usage rates. The second phase of the program, known as the Community Hospital Acceleration, Revitalization and Transformation (CHART) program, will also support regional partnerships to address unmet needs and appropriate use of health care services. This includes a push to reach patients before they require hospital care, according to Nancy Tomaso, vice president of Patient Care Services at Milford Regional.

The CHART program serves nonprofit, non-teaching hospitals that generally have lower costs than larger competitors, according to Milford Regional. Funding is collected through an assessment on large health care systems and commercial insurers under the state’s 2012 cost-containment law that seeks to cap health care spending.