Post-discharge acute care and outcomes following readmission reduction initiatives: national retrospective cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States.
To determine whether patients discharged after hospital admissions for conditions covered by national readmission programs who received care in emergency departments or observation units but were not readmitted within 30 days had an increased risk of death and to evaluate temporal trends in post-discharge acute care utilization in inpatient units, emergency departments, and observation units for these patients.
Retrospective cohort study.
Medicare claims data for 2008-16 in the United States.
Patients aged 65 or older admitted to hospital with heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia-conditions included in the US Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.
Post-discharge 30 day mortality according to patients' 30 day acute care utilization; acute care utilization in inpatient and observation units and the emergency department during the 30 day and 31-90 day post-discharge period.
3 772 924 hospital admissions for heart failure, 1 570 113 for acute myocardial infarction, and 3 131 162 for pneumonia occurred. The overall post-discharge 30 day mortality was 8.7% for heart failure, 7.3% for acute myocardial infarction, and 8.4% for pneumonia. Risk adjusted mortality increased annually by 0.05% (95% confidence interval 0.02% to 0.08%) for heart failure, decreased by 0.06% (-0.09% to -0.04%) for acute myocardial infarction, and did not significantly change for pneumonia. Specifically, mortality increased for patients with heart failure who did not utilize any post-discharge acute care, increasing at a rate of 0.08% (0.05% to 0.12%) per year, exceeding the overall absolute annual increase in post-discharge mortality in heart failure, without an increase in mortality in observation units or the emergency department. Concurrent with a reduction in 30 day readmission rates, stays for observation and visits to the emergency department increased across all three conditions during and beyond the 30 day post-discharge period. Overall 30 day post-acute care utilization did not change significantly.
The only condition with increasing mortality through the study period was heart failure; the increase preceded the policy and was not present among patients who received emergency department or observation unit care without admission to hospital. During this period, the overall acute care utilization in the 30 days after discharge significantly decreased for heart failure and pneumonia, but not for acute myocardial infarction.
Khera R
,Wang Y
,Bernheim SM
,Lin Z
,Krumholz HM
... -
《BMJ-British Medical Journal》
Trajectories of risk after hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia: retrospective cohort study.
To characterize the absolute risks for older patients of readmission to hospital and death in the year after hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia.
Retrospective cohort study.
4767 hospitals caring for Medicare fee for service beneficiaries in the United States, 2008-10.
More than 3 million Medicare fee for service beneficiaries, aged 65 years or more, surviving hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia.
Daily absolute risks of first readmission to hospital and death for one year after discharge. To illustrate risk trajectories, we identified the time required for risks of readmission to hospital and death to decline 50% from maximum values after discharge; the time required for risks to approach plateau periods of minimal day to day change, defined as 95% reductions in daily changes in risk from maximum daily declines after discharge; and the extent to which risks are higher among patients recently discharged from hospital compared with the general elderly population.
Within one year of hospital discharge, readmission to hospital and death, respectively, occurred following 67.4% and 35.8% of hospitalizations for heart failure, 49.9% and 25.1% for acute myocardial infarction, and 55.6% and 31.1% for pneumonia. Risk of first readmission had declined 50% by day 38 after hospitalization for heart failure, day 13 after hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction, and day 25 after hospitalization for pneumonia; risk of death declined 50% by day 11, 6, and 10, respectively. Daily change in risk of first readmission to hospital declined 95% by day 45, 38, and 45; daily change in risk of death declined 95% by day 21, 19, and 21. After hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia, the magnitude of the relative risk for hospital admission over the first 90 days was 8, 6, and 6 times greater than that of the general older population; the relative risk of death was 11, 8, and 10 times greater.
Risk declines slowly for older patients after hospitalization for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia and is increased for months. Specific risk trajectories vary by discharge diagnosis and outcome. Patients should remain vigilant for deterioration in health for an extended time after discharge. Health providers can use knowledge of absolute risks and their changes over time to better align interventions designed to reduce adverse outcomes after discharge with the highest risk periods for patients.
Dharmarajan K
,Hsieh AF
,Kulkarni VT
,Lin Z
,Ross JS
,Horwitz LI
,Kim N
,Suter LG
,Lin H
,Normand SL
,Krumholz HM
... -
《-》