University of Florida department wins 2015 FPM Practice Improvement Award

The University of Florida Department of Community Health and Family Medicine has won this year’s Family Practice Management Award for Practice Improvement. The department was presented with the award Friday during the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Conference on Practice Improvement being held in Dallas, Texas.

Former FPM Editorial Advisory Board member Kenny Lin MD, MPH, presented the award to the department’s program director, Peter Carek, MD.

The program was recognized for its inpatient readmission project that addressed high rates of readmission to the university hospital after discharge. A team that included family medicine physicians, emergency medicine physicians, pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and home health providers created and implemented a high-risk patient discharge plan.

During the 10 weeks before the project started, the family medicine inpatient service's readmission rate averaged 23 percent. For the 20 weeks following implementation of the project, the readmission rate decreased to 18 percent, an absolute reduction of 5 percent and a relative reduction of 22 percent.

– Lindsey Hoover, assistant managing editor, Family Practice Management.