TY - JOUR
T1 - Post-Discharge Services for Different Diagnoses Than Index Hospitalization Predict Decreased 30-Day Readmissions Among Medicare Beneficiaries
AU - Tak, Hyo Jung
AU - Chen, Li Wu
AU - Wilson, Fernando A.
AU - Goldsweig, Andrew M.
AU - Oleynikov, Dmitry
AU - Hawking, Michael
AU - Shih, Ya Chen Tina
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Society of General Internal Medicine.
PY - 2019/9/15
Y1 - 2019/9/15
N2 - Background: Efforts to reduce hospital readmissions include post-discharge interventions related to the illness treated during the index hospitalization (IH). These efforts may be inadequate because readmissions are precipitated by a wide range of health conditions unrelated to the primary diagnosis of the IH. Objective: To investigate the relationship between post-discharge health services utilization for the same or a different diagnosis than the IH and unplanned 30-day readmission. Design and Participants: The study sample included 583,199 all-cause IHs among 2014 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. For all-cause IH, as well as individually for heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia IH, we used multivariable logistic regressions to investigate the association between post-discharge services utilization and readmission. Main Measures: The outcome was unplanned 30-day readmission. Primary independent variables were post-discharge services utilization, including institutional outpatient, office-based primary care, office-based specialist, office-based non-physician practitioner, emergency department, home health care, and skilled nursing facility providers. Key Results: Among all-cause IH, 11.7% resulted in unplanned 30-day readmissions, and only 18.1% of readmissions occurred for the same primary diagnosis as IH. A substantial majority of post-discharge health services were utilized for a primary diagnosis differing from IH. Compared with no visit, institutional outpatient visits for the same primary diagnosis as IH (odds ratio [OR], 0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31–0.34) and for a different primary diagnosis than IH (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.35–0.37) were similarly strongly associated with decreased unplanned 30-day readmission. Primary care physician, specialist, non-physician practitioner, and home health care showed similar patterns. IH for heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia manifested similar patterns to all-cause IH both in terms of post-discharge services utilization and in terms of its impact on readmission. Conclusions: To reduce unplanned 30-day readmission more effectively, discharge planning should include post-discharge services to address health conditions beyond the primary cause of the IH.
AB - Background: Efforts to reduce hospital readmissions include post-discharge interventions related to the illness treated during the index hospitalization (IH). These efforts may be inadequate because readmissions are precipitated by a wide range of health conditions unrelated to the primary diagnosis of the IH. Objective: To investigate the relationship between post-discharge health services utilization for the same or a different diagnosis than the IH and unplanned 30-day readmission. Design and Participants: The study sample included 583,199 all-cause IHs among 2014 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. For all-cause IH, as well as individually for heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia IH, we used multivariable logistic regressions to investigate the association between post-discharge services utilization and readmission. Main Measures: The outcome was unplanned 30-day readmission. Primary independent variables were post-discharge services utilization, including institutional outpatient, office-based primary care, office-based specialist, office-based non-physician practitioner, emergency department, home health care, and skilled nursing facility providers. Key Results: Among all-cause IH, 11.7% resulted in unplanned 30-day readmissions, and only 18.1% of readmissions occurred for the same primary diagnosis as IH. A substantial majority of post-discharge health services were utilized for a primary diagnosis differing from IH. Compared with no visit, institutional outpatient visits for the same primary diagnosis as IH (odds ratio [OR], 0.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.31–0.34) and for a different primary diagnosis than IH (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.35–0.37) were similarly strongly associated with decreased unplanned 30-day readmission. Primary care physician, specialist, non-physician practitioner, and home health care showed similar patterns. IH for heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia manifested similar patterns to all-cause IH both in terms of post-discharge services utilization and in terms of its impact on readmission. Conclusions: To reduce unplanned 30-day readmission more effectively, discharge planning should include post-discharge services to address health conditions beyond the primary cause of the IH.
KW - 30-day readmission
KW - Hospital Readmission Reduction Program
KW - all-cause index hospitalization
KW - post-discharge services utilization
KW - service diagnosis
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U2 - 10.1007/s11606-019-05115-2
DO - 10.1007/s11606-019-05115-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 31228052
AN - SCOPUS:85068191793
SN - 0884-8734
VL - 34
SP - 1766
EP - 1774
JO - Journal of general internal medicine
JF - Journal of general internal medicine
IS - 9
ER -