Case Study: The University of Kansas Health System achieves 50% reduction in 30‑day readmissions with Health Catalyst

Clinical and Financial Partnership Reduces Denials and Write-Offs by More than $3 Million

The University of Kansas Health System, a major academic medical center, faced a stalled improvement in 30‑day readmission rates caused by variable discharge processes, limited interdisciplinary transparency, and insufficient ability to predict which patients were at highest risk. To address this, the health system partnered with Health Catalyst and implemented the Health Catalyst Analytics Platform, including the Late‑Binding™ Data Warehouse and analytics applications, to better surface risk factors and guide interventions.

Health Catalyst helped implement a solution combining machine learning–based predictive modeling, the late‑binding data warehouse, and lean care redesign (including a Continuum of Care Advisory Team and a hospital‑to‑home program) to identify high‑risk patients and standardize post‑discharge care. The University of Kansas Health System realized measurable results: a 39% relative reduction in all‑cause 30‑day readmissions and a 52% relative reduction for patients with a principal diagnosis of heart failure (hospital‑to‑home participants saw 42% and 49% reductions, respectively).

The University of Kansas Health System

David M. Wild

Vice President, Lean Promotion