New research shows patients with vision loss who are admitted to the hospital for common disorders experience longer hospital stays, higher readmission rates and higher post-discharge emergency department utilization rates than non-visually impaired patients.
The study was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology by Alan R. Morse, PhD, president and CEO of Lighthouse Guild of New York, a nonprofit vision and healthcare organization.
The authors of the study compared almost 6,000 patients with low vision or blindness in a large United States managed care network from 2001 to 2014 to the same number of patients without vision loss. They found:
1. The hospital length of stay for patients with blindness was 5.67 days, approximately one day longer than for patients with no vision loss who spent an average of 4.61 days in the hospital.
2. Readmission rates were 21.1 percent for patients with vision loss and 14.7 percent for those with no vision loss.
3. Emergency department use was 29 percent higher among patients with blindness than for those without vision loss.
4. Based on the average cost of a hospital stay for patients with and without vision loss or blindness, the total excess cost related to hospitalization of Medicare patients with blindness or low vision is estimated at $2.7 billion each year.
"It is essential that hospitals develop plans to assist patients with blindness or low vision as well as their families and caregivers before, during and after hospitalization," said Dr. Morse. "Focusing on the needs of patients with vision loss will lower costs and may lead to improved patient outcomes."
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