30-Day Readmission Awards

AWARD SUBMISSION CLOSED at noon ET on February 12, 2014

The purpose of this award is to recognize heart failure (HF) treatment programs that have shown exceptional performance in the management of patients through significant reduction in patients' readmission rates within 30 days following hospital discharge. The patients' primary diagnosis at the time of discharge must be classified according to any of the following ICD-9 codes: 428.20-428.23 (systolic HF); 428.30-428.33 (diastolic HF); or 428.40-428.43 (combined systolic of diastolic HF). The all-cause readmission rate as defined by Centers of Medicare and Medicaid (https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Inst..., or http://www. qualitymeasures. ahrq.gov/) is the focus  of this award. Therefore, it is possible that the patients' primary readmission diagnosis may or may not be related to any of these ICD-9 code categories. The award will be presented at the American Association of Heart Failure Nurses (AAHFN) Annual Meeting.

Eligibility Criteria:

1. One of the applicants must be an AAHFN member in good-standing for at least one year.
Note: AAHFN Board of Directors, Research Committee Members, or Institutions (e.g., university or non-university hospitals) by which these individuals are employed or affiliated are NOT eligible to apply for this award.
2. The structure of the heart failure program consists of a multidisciplinary team in an urban or rural setting.
3. The strategies or process of reducing the re-admission rate should be innovative and based on the best available evidence, practices, or clinical guidelines.
4. The reduction in 30-day hospital readmission rate is significant and sustained for a minimum of 6 months after strategies/process implementation. A significant reduction in readmission is defined as a minimum 5% decrease in the applicant's hospital readmission rate at baseline.

Award Compensation

• 3 awards will be give based on size of hospital/institution (small less than 250 beds, medium less than 500 beds and large greater than 500 beds)              

•  1 member from each hospital/institution will receive free registration to the 2014 Annual Conference                                                                                

• Each of the 3 hospitals/institutions will be recognized at the conference and through AAHFN publications.  AAHFN will also plan a press release to each hospital/institution’s local newspapers.

Congratulations to the winners from the 2013 9th Annual Conference