The Patient-Centered Discharge-An Electronic Discharge Process Is Associated With Improvements in Quality and Patient Satisfaction.

In this retrospective cohort study, 100 records were randomly selected from the intervention period (April 2012) and the control period (April 2011). The hospital's institutional database was queried to compare mortality, length of stay, and patient satisfaction, in the year prior to and the year after the integration of the new process. A chart review was performed to determine if the reengineered process was associated with an improvement in documentation. A scoring system was developed to gauge the quality and timeliness of the process. Institutional data regarding length of stay, mortality, patient satisfaction, and core measures compliance were compared for the pre- and postimplementation of the new process. The reengineered discharge process was associated with an improvement in patient satisfaction and in the quality of the discharge materials as measured by the "patient-centered transitions of care (PCTC) score." These improvements occurred without a significant increase in the time to complete a discharge.A redesigned discharge process resulted in system-wide improvements in the quality of information provided to the patient and their outpatient providers. This intervention was associated with an improvement in compliance with core measures, improvements in patient satisfaction and timeliness of discharge summary preparation.