Bridge-to-Home: A Case Study of the Mutually Reinforcing Benefits of Patient Engagement-Focused Quality Improvement Initiatives for Transitions out of Hospital

Abstract

The Bridge-to-Home program was launched as a 16-month collaborative from 2018 to 2020 to improve care transitions out of hospital using a patient engagement-focused quality improvement (QI) initiative. Teams that participated in the collaborative were able to implement elements of the patient-oriented care transitions bundle, improve experience of care transitions and increase capacity for patient engagement for both patient partners and providers. In this article, we highlight three case studies of teams in different types of organizations with different levels of patient engagement maturation. Key enablers and barriers are identified with a specific lens on engagement efforts to co-produce changes in the processes and experience of care. These cases illustrate that providing support for patient engagement when leading a QI initiative is mutually reinforcing, where patient engagement and QI support and strengthen each other, resulting in increased success of the quality initiative and increased capacity for patient engagement.