Minnesota nursing homes to treat more conditions; reduce hospitalizations

A three-year pilot program meant to reduce unnecessary hospitalization of Minnesota’s nursing home residents has been launched by 49 of the state’s facilities, the Star Tribune reported.

The participating facilities will utilize the INTERACT project, or Interventions to Reduce Acute Care Transfers, which provides nursing homes with tools to assess residents before hospitalizing them for conditions such as dehydration, fever and infection. The project also targets disease end-stages that could be treated with palliative care instead of emergency hospitalization.

According to the Star Tribune report, avoidable hospitalizations of nursing home residents cost upwards of $3 billion annually, whereas the INTERACT project could cut avoidable hospitalizations by up to 20 percent.

“Nursing homes in the INTERACT project will share $10.2 million if they meet their goals,” the report read. “Previous INTERACT projects have found a savings of about $16 for each dollar invested.”

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