Are all readmissions the same?

Are all readmissions bad readmissions?

To The Editor: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) view readmission for any reason after an index hospitalization for heart failure as a sign of poor quality of care. “From the patient perspective, readmission from any cause is an adverse event.”1 Little consideration has been given, however, to a potential association between readmissions and mortality, an outcome that is of p...

Not all readmissions are created equal.

In a retrospective review by Hannan et al. (1) in this issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions, 30-day readmission rates for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients were analyzed using both clinical and administrative datasets to determine overall readmission rates, planned or staged readmissions, and a determination of predictors for unstaged readmissions. The 30-day readmission ...

Not all injections are the same.

To the Editor: In metaphorical terms, a problem arises when good apples are pooled with bad apples; they all get tarred with the same brush. This principle applies when all studies pertaining to spinal injections of steroids are pooled, as if they are all equal. Subsequently, the lay press publicizes sweeping conclusions such as “injecting any liquid, even plain saline solution, works just as w...

“ Happy Families Are All The Same ”

All valve malfunctions are not the same.

1. Tautz TJ, Urwyler A, Antognini JF, Riou B: Case scenario: Increased end-tidal carbon dioxide. A diagnostic dilemma. ANESTHESIOLOGY 2010; 112:440 – 6 2. Kwetny IM, Finucane BT: Negative arterial to end-tidal carbon dioxide gradient: An additional sign of malignant hyperthermia during desflurane anesthesia. Anest Analg 2006; 102:815–7 3. Larach MG, Localio AR, Allen GC, Denborough MA, Ellis FR...