Hospital readmission app could save billions

Editor's Note

Hospital readmission app could save billions

An award-winning app developed by graduate students at Binghamton University, State University of New York, could help reduce readmission rates and save the healthcare industry billions.

The Android-based mobile app called “Post Discharge Treatment and Readmission Predictor,” creates a special messaging service between healthcare providers and patients so that patients don’t have to go to the emergency department or call 911. The app also lets insurance agents check a patient’s status and warn healthcare providers to take care of high-risk patients.

In addition, the app has a feature for predicting each patient’s readmission probability by comparing the current status of each patient with historical records.

A quartet of graduate students from the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science came in second place in the nation-wide 2016 Institute of Industrial and System Engineers CIS Division Mobile App Competition.