When do patient‐reported outcome measures inform readmission risk?

OBJECTIVE To characterize changes in patient‐reported outcome measures from hospital discharge to assess when they best inform risk of utilization as defined by readmissions or emergency department use. PARTICIPANTS Patients discharged from an urban safety‐net hospital. DESIGN Longitudinal cohort study. MAIN MEASURES We serially administered the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) and the PROMIS Global Health short form assessing General Self‐Rated Health (GSRH), Global Physical (GPH), and Mental (GMH) Health at 0, 30, 90, and 180 days from hospital discharge. Time to first utilization from each survey was plotted by dichotomizing our sample on each patient‐reported measure, and equivalence of the time‐to‐event curves was assessed using the log‐rank test. Cox proportional hazard models were used to control for available covariates including prior utilization during the study, Charlson score, age, gender, and race/ethnicity. We assessed each measure's effect on the fit of the predictive models using the likelihood ratio test. KEY RESULTS We recruited 196 patients, of whom 100%, 98%, 90%, and 88% completed each respective survey wave. Participants’ mean age was 52 years, 51% were women, 60% were non‐Hispanic black, and 21% completed the questionnaires in Spanish. In‐hospital assessments revealed high symptom burden and poor health status. In‐hospital assessments of GMH and GSRH predicted 14‐day reutilization, whereas posthospitalization assessments of MSAS and GPH predicted subsequent utilizations. Each measure selectively improved predictive model fit. CONCLUSIONS Routine measurement of patient‐reported outcomes can help identify patients at higher risk for utilizations. At different time points, MSAS, GPH, GMH, and GSRH all informed utilization risk. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2015;10:294–300. © 2015 Society of Hospital Medicine