Emergency department patients who have recently been hospitalized are more than twice as likely to be admitted as those who have not recently been in the hospital, according to new research led by Zachary F. Meisel, MD, of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Looking at data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, researchers analyzed a sample of approximately 2.3 million emergency room visits from each year between 2005 and 2008 and found that hospital re-admission rates for recently hospitalized patients increased each year of the study — from 28.6 percent to 38 percent. Admission rates for patients not recently hospitalized increased at a lesser rate — from 15.3 percent to 17.2 percent.
Dr. Meisel says these findings show emergency departments play a major role in preventing hospital readmissions and emergency physicians need to better understand why recently discharged patients are more likely to be admitted to the hospital than people who have not recently been in the hospital.
Read the news release about hospital readmissions.
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Looking at data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, researchers analyzed a sample of approximately 2.3 million emergency room visits from each year between 2005 and 2008 and found that hospital re-admission rates for recently hospitalized patients increased each year of the study — from 28.6 percent to 38 percent. Admission rates for patients not recently hospitalized increased at a lesser rate — from 15.3 percent to 17.2 percent.
Dr. Meisel says these findings show emergency departments play a major role in preventing hospital readmissions and emergency physicians need to better understand why recently discharged patients are more likely to be admitted to the hospital than people who have not recently been in the hospital.
Read the news release about hospital readmissions.
Related Articles on Quality:
Tele-ICU Interventions May Lead to Lowered Hospital Length of Stay, Complications and Mortality
Study: Medication Burden, Patient Age Risk Factors for Adverse Drug Events
California Laws on Infection Control, Reporting Have Yet to Produce Real Improvements