Most elderly adults sent to a post-acute care facility after a hospital stay are likely readmitted within 30 days, according to a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Researchers examined patients 65 years and older who were readmitted from post-acute care facilities for any cause within seven days from discharge. The study included 81,173 subjects.
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The study shows that a shorter original length of stay in a hospital is likely to result in readmission following care at a post-acute care facility. Patients with shorter original LOS may have been discharged when they had not yet recovered sufficiently.
Additionally, the study shows those who were readmitted to hospitals within one week tended to have higher degrees of chronic disease compared to patients who were not readmitted as quickly.