There are so many reasons Brandi Henneman has had such a positive impact on participation rates for ProxsysRx’s Readmission Reduction program at South Carolina’s Conway Medical Center. Chief among them, her first-rate professionalism, and her genuinely caring disposition — which immediately tells patients she has their best interests at heart. It’s a sense of comfort and security that comes from not knowing they’re in the hands of a Clinical Pharmacist who’s been known to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, just for the thrill of it.
To be fair, Brandi only joined her husband on two skydiving outings before retiring from the sport. Still, she knows it’s a topic best left unmentioned during her initial conversations with patients who are considering enrollment in our Impact® program.
“One of the things I really enjoy about my job,” Brandi says, “is connecting with people. I love the fact that I’m able to make a difference in patients’ lives by offering personal guidance and support. For the first time in my career, I’m dealing with patients one-on-one, in an unrushed fashion. I’m not just getting to know them, which I enjoy so much, I’m getting to help them — and their caregivers — make good decisions.”
A graduate of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, Brandi’s career included stops at two large chain pharmacies and one independent chain before she spent eleven years in Long-Term Care pharmacy. In 2021, she says, “I decided I wanted to get hospital experience, and I became a PRN with the inpatient pharmacy at Conway — while working one day a month with ProxsysRx.” When ProxsysRx offered her the opportunity with the Impact® program, she jumped. And in short order, so did the percentage of eligible patients agreeing to enroll in the program.
And while there’s no question that her ability to meet with patients in-person plays a strong role in the percentage increase, Brandi reports similar success when “meeting” already-discharged patients by phone. “Occasionally, patients get discharged after-hours, when I’m not in the hospital, so I’ll call them as soon as possible afterward.” Surprisingly, she notes, most of those patients actually answer their phones — and most of them agree to enroll in the program.
“I really enjoy establishing a rapport with new patients. When they recognize they can trust me, that’s when we really start communicating, and I’m able to pick-up on their concerns — and their needs. I’m also good at picking-up when patients don’t understand things.”
Brandi’s personal talents, and her professional background, have also played key roles in the Impact® program’s results. As we reported in a previous post:
Readmission reduction results: By the numbers
When our program launched in November, 2023, CMC’s health system had a baseline 35% readmission rate among its MVP patient population. After 12 months our program had enrolled and served 295 participants — and achieved a readmission rate of just 12.2%. Of those patients, past the 30 day mark, 216 patients “graduated” without readmission — and there were only 36 readmits, for an 85.4% graduation rate. Not to mention a 58.3% reduction in the readmission rate. Based on the health system’s historical MVP readmission rate, without the Impact® program CMC would have expected 103 readmissions.
The savings CMC achieved in readmission avoidance costs, as a result of the program, was $790,400 (based on the $15,200 readmission cost per patient cited above). What’s more, patient satisfaction ratings with the program (92 respondents) was 9.77 out of 10 — a significant improvement over the national average of 6.6 for health system Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) scores.
About Brandi’s background
“My dual experience in retail and long-term care, along with the inpatient care, has helped me understand how everything comes together in this program. Working in big pharmacies, filling prescriptions as fast as possible, you really don’t get the chance to develop your clinical knowledge — and that’s a critical component to my job. In this program, I’m not just filling prescriptions, I’m personally serving patients’ prescription needs. And doing that has really ‘connected the dots’ with all the knowledge I’ve gained over the years.” Most of that knowledge, she says, was already there — but you could say that Brandi’s current role has helped turn all those drug “facts” into patient-support “wisdom.”
Wisdom in action
On any number of occasions, Brandi’s been able to catch miscommunications between patients and physicians. “It’s not uncommon for patients to neglect to tell their doctors about all of the medications they’re already taking. Medications that could interact badly with the new meds they’re prescribed at discharge. I’ve been able to identify several potential interaction risks, and then pass-along recommendations to the patients’ physicians. And when you’re offering that kind of sound prescribing advice, it doesn’t take long for the doctors to know they can count on me as a trusted member of their care teams.”
At the same time, Brandi’s careful checklist approach to reviewing patient prescriptions has uncovered gaps in support from the pharmacies’ end. “I recently asked a patient if he’d gotten all of his prescriptions. He thought he had, but while we were reviewing the list, I noticed that he hadn’t received one of his prescriptions. As it turned-out, his pharmacy had put that prescription on hold. Why, I don’t know, but we were able to have the pharmacy fill that prescription for him.”
Going beyond the call
And then there are the inevitable times (especially common among non-profit hospitals) when patients are prescribed medications they can’t afford. “Just the other day, I was talking with a patient who’d been prescribed something that wasn’t covered — and since he couldn’t he pay for it, he was just going to do without it. I was able to recommend, to his doctor, a similar medication that was covered. They rewrote the prescription, and the patient was able to get the treatment he needed.”
All in a day’s work, notes Brandi. Which is why so many Conway patients can be confident that, when they take that leap of faith to enter ProxsysRx’s Impact® program with this part-time skydiver, they’re in for a safe landing.
ProxsysRx is here to help, if you have questions.
For more information on how ProxsysRx can help your health system reduce readmissions, contact Howard Hall. C: 214.808.2700 | howard.hall@proxsysrx.com
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