Appointment Reminders to Decrease 30-Day Readmission Rates to Inpatient Psychiatric Hospitals.

Purpose Of Project: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to reduce 30-day readmission rates to inpatient psychiatric hospitals by standardizing discharge processes by including scheduling outpatient psychiatric appointments for all patients at discharge and also to include the mailing postal reminders to prompt patients to attend their first outpatient mental health appointment following treatment.

Primary Practice Setting: Inpatient psychiatric hospital.

Methodology And Sample: The project design was an analysis of readmission data obtained both 3 months before and after implementation of the postal reminder letters.