TransCare Partners to extend use of Transitional Care Model to reduce hospital re-admissions

The University of Pennsylvania Upstart Program announces TransCare Partners LLC to broaden the use of the Transitional Care Model developed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The Model, developed over 20 years by Dr Mary Naylor, has been clinically proven to reduce hospital re-admissions by up to 30% while producing substantial savings for hospitals and Medicare.The model assigns an Advance Practice Nurse to follow the patient through the critical transition from hospital to home. An individual nurse can manage as many as 20 patients at a time over a 60 day period. This model has been proven in 3 randomly controlled clinical trials to significantly improve patients health while avoiding re- admissions.

Of the 11 million Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized each year, about 19% are re- admitted within 30 days, costing Medicare an estimated $15 Billion. Hospitals with high re-admission rates are penalized 1% of Medicare reimbursement, with fines scheduled to increase in future years. A successful transitional care program can help a hospital avoid Medicare penalties and assist in increasing patient satisfaction scores.

TransCare Partners will specialize in transitional care, the 30 -60 days post hospital discharge, and can deliver the services through two platforms. TransCare Partners will staff and fully deliver the model to partnering organizations or an institution can elect to use the model, but deliver the services through existing staff.

Greg Westerbeck has been named President and CEO of TransCare Partners LLC. He has more than 25 years of senior global healthcare experience. "There are many great ideas in this space right now, but very few have been clinically proven. We are pleased to be able to offer this model anywhere outside of Philadelphia because it has been proven to work in a variety of settings", said Westerbeck