Longer hospital stays mean more time at home

Lowering rates of readmission, especially in older patients, allows patients to recover fully while minimizing provider spending. A recent study published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) examined factors attributing to the rise of readmission rates after leaving post-acute care facilities.

Many Medicare patients are sent to post-acute care facilities after a stay in the hospital, but 23 percent of patients return to the hospital after a month and some after only a week away. The study, performed by a team from the University of Colorado in Aurora and Denver VA Medical Center, analyzed data from 81,173 patients 65 and older who were readmitted to the hospital after being sent to a post-acute care facilities.

The study split the analysis into two parts, the first included patients readmitted for any reason seven days after being discharged, and the second analyzed those readmitted after eight to 30 days of discharge.

Results showed that patients readmitted within a week had more severe chronic conditions compared to those readmitted later. Research also showed that the shorter the original hospital stay, the more likely the patient will be readmitted. Readmissions also increased for individuals treated for heart attack and pneumonia and patients discharged from small or rural hospitals.

"Shorter length of index hospital stay is associated with earlier readmission and suggests that for this comorbid, older population, a shorter hospital stay may be detrimental," wrote lead author Carrie Horney, MD, and colleagues. "Readmission after 1 week is associated with increased chronic disease burden, suggesting they may be associated with factors that are less modifiable."