Evaluation of hospital readmissions after total hip arthroplasty may help improve patient safety and cost reduction. This study investigates the rates and reasons for readmission as well as length of hospital stay (LOS) for 1802 total hip arthroplasty patients from 2002 to 2007. Data were abstracted from the Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System. The overall 30-day rate of readmission was 6...

BACKGROUND The reduction of all-cause hospital readmission among heart failure (HF) patients is a national priority. Telehealth is one strategy employed to impact this sought-after patient outcome. Prior research indicates varied results on all-cause hospital readmission highlighting the need to understand telehealth processes and optimal strategies in improving patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES T...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) are among the most common reasons for pediatric hospitalization and among the diagnoses with the highest number of readmissions. Characterizing LRI readmissions would help guide efforts to prevent them. We assessed variation in pediatric LRI readmission rates, risk factors for readmission, and readmission diagnoses. METHODS We analy...

BACKGROUND Up to 13% of psychiatric patients are readmitted shortly after discharge. Interventions that ensure successful transitions to community care may play a key role in preventing early readmission. AIMS To describe and evaluate interventions applied during the transition from in-patient to out-patient care in preventing early psychiatric readmission. METHOD Systematic review of trans...

BACKGROUND Interest is growing in preventing readmissions as payers start to link reimbursement to readmission rates. The purpose of this study was to assess factors contributing to 30-day readmission for patients undergoing gastric bypass (GB) and determine whether these readmissions may be preventable. METHODS Data were from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) and i...

BACKGROUND Readmission following an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is frequent in our community. Patient specific factors identifying those at risk of readmission are poorly described. METHODS Data were analysed from 5219 patients with an ACS enrolled in the Australian and New Zealand population of the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) between 1999 and 2007. Patients who were re...

Hospital readmission rate is adopted as a key hospital quality metric by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). In 2012, CMS began penalizing 2200 hospitals with excess readmission rates for a total about $280 million in Medicare payments. However, readmission rate may not be an appropriate quality metric because it may be driven by factors other than the care given at hospitals....

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of patient-level sociodemographic factors on the incidence of hospital readmission within 30 days among medical patients in a large Canadian metropolitan city. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Patients admitted to the General Internal Medicine service of an urban teaching hospital in Toronto, Canada participated in a survey of soci...

BACKGROUND Interventions to reduce early readmissions have focused on patient characteristics and the importance of early follow-up; however, less is known about the characteristics of health systems, including quality, capacity, and intensity, and their influence on readmission rates in the United States. Therefore, we examined the association of hospital patterns of medical care with rates of...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effects of Kaua'i Care Transition Intervention (KCTI), a patient-centered intervention program, on reducing hospital readmission rates among patients 60 years or older. STUDY DESIGN A prospective quasi-experimental prepost design. METHODS Hospital admissions data for the year 2010 (January 1 to December 31) served as the baseline data and were used to identify pat...