Automation powered technology can help health systems reduce length of stay, increase inpatient capacity, and improve patient outcomes.
The hospital discharge process is one critical but often inefficient component of patient care. Delays, administrative burdens, and miscommunication contribute to extended hospital stays, increased readmission risks, and suboptimal patient experiences. Traditional discharge and referral management systems rely on manual workflows that slow the transition to post-acute care. As hospitals across the country continue to face pressure to manage increasing patient volumes with limited resources, innovation in technology and care workflows in this space is more important than ever.
Repisodic, a leader in discharge automation, transforms this process through technology-driven solutions that streamline patient transitions, enhance communication among care coordination teams and post-acute care providers, and ensure compliance with discharge planning regulation. In this post, we explore the many challenges of patient discharges to post-acute care and the benefits of leveraging automation to create a more efficient and patient-centered care transition workflow.
Ongoing Challenges in Patient Discharge and Referral Management
Discharge Delays and Inpatient Capacity Constraints
On average, one in six hospital patients remain in beds despite being medically ready for discharge. There are many issues that prolong hospital stays: administrative inefficiencies, delays in referral responses, and lack of real-time availability of post-acute care providers to accept patients ready to leave the hospital. These delays increase healthcare costs and limit inpatient bed availability for patients waiting for admission to the hospital.
Rising Readmission Rates
Many hospital readmissions stem from inadequate discharge planning and not getting patients to the best next setting of care. Guiding patients to high quality post-acute care, often part of a hospitals established partner network, can reduce breakdowns in follow-up communications, post-discharge instructions, and ultimately avoidable rehospitalizations.
Administrative Burden on Healthcare Staff and Burnout
Case managers and discharge coordinators spend excessive time navigating outdated, manual processes. Hospitals struggle with fragmented workflows, limited interoperability between EHRs and legacy referral platforms, and time-consuming paperwork, ultimately reducing the time they can spend with patients. The extensive documentation required for discharge further contributes to burnout and job dissatisfaction.
Using Automation Powered Solutions to Address Patient Discharge and Referral Challenges
Smarter Discharge Planning
Automation is reshaping hospital discharge workflows by enhancing efficiency, reducing administrative burdens, and improving patient outcomes. Hospitals can be smarter about forecasting discharge times and identify patients at risk of delays, enabling proactive planning and reducing unnecessary bed occupancy.
Patient Matching to Reduce Referral Volume
Data driven tools can automatically match patients with the most suitable post-acute care providers based on medical needs, insurance coverage, and facility availability. Automating this process eliminates delays and ensures patients receive timely care. It also reduces the number of referrals that need to be sent out to get an acceptance since data is used up front in the process.
Automated Documentation and Compliance
Hospitals can leverage existing data in the EHR to document discharge summaries and other relevant notes to ensure compliance with Medicare and CMS regulations such as the Medicare Discharge Planning Rules. This reduces time spent on paperwork and documentation, allowing case managers and social workers to focus on patient care.
Patient Education and Engagement
Translating complex medical information into easy-to-understand language, educational content, and actionable tasks can improve and simplify discharge workflows, especially for complex patients, ensuring timely discharges and smoother patient transitions.
Repisodic’s discharge automation technology empowers hospitals to overcome inefficiencies, reduce costs, and improve patient care. Automation assisted discharge planning can increase patient volumes without hospitals having to build additional infrastructure. It also helps to achieve measurable improvements in efficiency and patient outcomes. By replacing legacy referral management systems with intelligent, streamlined workflows, healthcare providers can achieve faster discharges, improved patient care, and greater operational efficiency.
Learn More
Discover how Repisodic can help your hospital automate patient care transitions and drive better discharge outcomes. Contact us today to schedule a demo.
