Page 6 How the US Health Care System Can Reduce Avoidable Read missions

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care
issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and
health care, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify
solutions and achieve comprehensive, measurable, and timely change. For 40 years the Foundation
has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect
the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives
and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more
information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter www.rwjf.org/twitter or Facebook
www.rwjf.org/facebook.

1 Jencks SF, Williams MV and Coleman EA.
“Rehospitalizations Among Patients in the Medicare
Fee-for-Service Program.” New England Journal of
Medicine, 360(14): 1418–1428, 2009.
2 Burton R. “Health Policy Brief: Care Transitions,”
Health Affairs, September 2012, www.rwjf.org/
content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2012/
rwjf401314 (accessed February 2013).
3 Better Care, Better Health, Lower Cost: It Takes
a Community. Cleveland: Better Health Greater
Cleveland, 2013, www.betterhealthcleveland.org/
BetterHealth/files/81/8143a2d9-ab59-462b-a194-
8e7c83c2dedd.pdf (accessed February 2013).
4 Ibid.
5 Status Report on Efforts to Understand
and Create Awareness of Potentially Avoidable
Hospitalizations in Memphis and Shelby County,
Tennessee. Memphis, Tenn.: Healthy Memphis
Common Table, 2012, www.healthymemphis.org/
upload/media/HMCT_TCFBH_PAH_Report_WEB.pdf
(accessed February 2013).
6 Ibid.

6