AHRQ study: Ortho patients, those admitted through ED most likely to be readmitted
Three-quarters of patients readmitted to a hospital after being discharged return to the same hospital, according to a study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Patients admitted for orthopedic conditions and patients who entered the hospital through the emergency department were the most likely to have a same-hospital readmission, according to findings.
The highest rates overall for readmission were found in patients aged 65 to 84, though patients aged 45 to 64 who underwent spinal fusion had similar readmission rates. The condition most commonly associated with readmission was heart failure, and the conditions for which a readmission was least likely were hip and knee arthroplasty. Women made up a larger portion of readmissions across all conditions, except for heart attack.
Investigators used the State Inpatient Databases, a component of AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), to conduct the study. They analyzed data on adults discharged from hospitals in 16 states. HCUP is the nation’s most comprehensive source of hospital data, including information on inpatient care, ambulatory care and emergency department visits. The study, “Patient Factors Contributing to Variation in Same-Hospital Readmission Rate,” and abstract were published in Medical Care Research and Review.
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.