Digital patient engagement solutions have many benefits — prompting 78% of leaders nationwide to invest in them. They can be convenient ways to automate, stay in touch, send reminders, and give patients a direct line to their care teams. 

Discharge is a critical time for teaching. Care teams finalize plans, send prescriptions and referrals, and make follow-up appointments as the patient and their family prepare to transition out of the hospital. 

For patients, being readmitted to the hospital after returning home can be very disappointing. In addition to disappointment, patients who are readmitted face longer recovery times, financial impacts, and higher risks of complications. 

Around 12% of heart attack survivors are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. While the reason for the readmission is sometimes another heart attack, that isn’t always the case. Around half of these readmissions are not even cardiac-related.

Transitioning from the hospital back to home is a precarious time for most patients. As hospital case managers know, patients can struggle to understand how to care for their numerous, complex medical conditions. This struggle frequently results in increased readmissions and poor patient outcomes.

Hospital patients have a lot to remember when they leave the hospital, like self-care instructions, follow-up appointments, and medication changes. Remembering things like this is tough for healthy people, but trying to remember it all when you’re sick or in pain makes understanding a care plan much more difficult.

Patients typically get very excited when they hear “discharge.” Discharge means they are going home, but it also means patients will be caring for themselves once they get home. If patients don’t understand their care plan, or aren’t engaged in their plan, their chances of readmission after discharge increase.

Health literacy predicts overall health better than any other factor, according to the American Medical Association (AMA).

The impact of the patient experience in healthcare goes beyond HCAHPS scores. When patients have a good experience, they build relationships with the care team. They are more likely to be engaged in their health. They learn better and make healthy choices.

Around 50% of patients don't get the full benefit of medical treatments because of poor compliance.

While it’s easy to assume that patients who don’t follow doctors’ instructions lack the desire to improve their health, research points to patient education rather than motivation as a driver of non-compliance. In fact, studies show a significant increase in compliance with better patient education.