Study: Decreased Length of Stay Not Associated With Increased Readmissions

Reducing hospital length of stay may not result in higher 30-day readmission rates, according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers studied admissions at all 129 acute-care Veterans Affairs hospitals in the United States from 1997 to 2010. The admissions were divided into subsamples of two chronic diagnoses — heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — and three acute diagnoses — acute myocardial infarction, community-acquired pneumonia and gastrointestinal hemorrhage.


Results showed that overall, the average hospital length of stay decreased from 5.44 days to 3.98 days, representing a 2 percent annual decrease over the study period. Thirty-day readmission rates also decreased for all diagnoses, from 16.5 percent to 13.8 percent. However, hospitals with a lower-than-expected length of stay had a higher readmission rate.

The authors concluded that the simultaneous decrease in length of stay and readmission rates suggests reducing length of stay does not necessarily increase readmission rates.

More Articles on Hospital Readmissions:

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