The Valley Risk Assessment Tool, created by The Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, NJ, is a two-page, two-column chart that assigns a level to each category of risk.
Here are criteria for patients to qualify for level four:
• One or more chronic diseases with significant risk factors;
• Not at treatment goals;
• Problems with one to three chronic diseases;
• Five or fewer medications from two or fewer prescribing physicians;
• Normal function;
• More or frequent office visits.
A level one simply states that no primary prevention or further intervention is necessary because the “Patient is healthy, with no chronic disease, or significant risk factors; no problems, medications, functional, and utilizations.”
By contrast, a level eight includes:
• Long-term complex: no finances, inadequate social supports;
• Difficult families that need guidance with accessing services and decision-making;
• Housing issues;
• Patients readmitted due to lack of social or financial supports that are complicated;
• Complex, insurance/disability/SSI problems;
• Medication access and affordability issues;
• Cases involving Elder Care Legal Service issues;
• Medicare and Medicaid issues;
• Complex observation patient with discharge needs;
• Multiple resource needs;
• Partial hospitalization programs;
• Outpatient agencies, day programs, psych discharge to community, refusals.
The Valley Risk Assessment Tool, created by The Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, NJ, is a two-page, two-column chart that assigns a level to each category of risk.
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