Paper
Thursday, July 12, 2007
This presentation is part of : A Cost Effective Evidence-Based Fall Prevention Program through Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Planning a Successful Fall Prevention/Intervention Program
Sharon Heuer, BS, MS, MEd, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, AZ, USA and Chrys Anderson, RN, MS, QES, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
Falls are the leading cause of injury related deaths in the US in adults 65 and older. Arizona ranks 5th in the nation for fall related deaths. Scottsdale, Arizona is an aging community with 22 % of the population comprised of older adults over 60 years of age and 37 % of the population over 50 years of age. In 2004, SHC, had 4669 fall-related hospitalizations in those over 64 years of age. Approximately 1 million dollars in actual costs were lost as a result of those hospitalizations.

In October 2005, SHC began working with hospital system analysts to identify patients admitted for falls. Cost and reimbursement data was analyzed to identify patients that showed greatest financial loss to the system. Financial data from patients greater than 75 years of age with multiple co-morbidities showed the greatest financial loss. In the SHC system alone in 2005, there were 1157 fall related admissions for those over the age of 75 and older. With increasing age, the number of admissions increased, as did the cost to care and the average length of stay.

It was evident that development of a program aimed at decreasing readmissions in patients 75 years or older with history of falls or at risk for falls could decrease financial loss. In planning and pilot phase, social workers involved in community case management began investigating fall prevention resources and building partners to support referral and intervention. Inpatient information systems and outpatient electronic medical record reporting and tracking templates were developed to support case management functions. These tools were later used to extract data and track outcomes.

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