June 2020
Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital (SGCMH), located in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, is one of only four critical access hospitals that received national recognition for demonstrating innovative care coordination initiatives to improve population health.
SGCMH has a swing bed hospital-based program for Transitional Care (skilled nursing). Recently, SGCMH implemented an innovative care model, standardized their triage process, and collaborated with select tertiary care centers to transition patients into a short-term skilled nursing program. The Transitional Care goal is to address the needs of patients who are being discharged from acute care but are not ready or it is not safe to go home. As a traditional skilled nursing facility (SNF) alternative, Transitional Care patients benefit from low nurse-to-patient ratios, and receive interventions typically seen in acute care including daily physician rounding, intravenous antibiotics (IVAB), IV medications, wound care, physical and occupational therapy (PT/OT), and palliative care. Differing from nursing homes, SNF have 24-hour per day availability of lab, radiology, and respiratory therapy.
Hirshell Parker, Executive Director of Quality & Risk Management, said, ”We identified a need in our community that led us to further develop our Transitional Care/Swing bed Program, which allows us to get patients back home in a safe and timely manner. By doing so, we have improved the quality of care for patients and reduced hospital readmissions.”
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