Open AccessLocal Supply Of Postdischarge Care Options Tied To Hospital Readmission Rates
Author(s) -
Kevin N. Griffith,
David A. Schwartzman,
Steven D. Pizer,
Jacob Bor,
Vijaya B. Kolachalama,
Brian Jack,
Melissa M. Garrido
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
health affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.837
H-Index - 178
eISSN - 2694-233X
pISSN - 0278-2715
DOI - 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01991
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency medicine , per capita , myocardial infarction , health care , hospital readmission , pneumonia , acute care , medical emergency , environmental health , population , economics , economic growth
The extent to which patients' risk for readmission after a hospitalization is influenced by local availability of postdischarge care options is not currently known. We used national, hospital-level data to assess whether the supply of postdischarge care options in hospitals' catchment areas was associated with readmission rates for Medicare patients after hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or pneumonia. Overall, readmission rates were negatively associated with per capita supply of primary care physicians (-0.16 percentage points per standard deviation) and licensed nursing home beds (-0.09 percentage points per standard deviation). In contrast, readmission rates were positively associated with per capita supply of nurse practitioners (0.09 percentage points per standard deviation). Our results suggest potential modifications to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to account for local health system characteristics when assigning penalties to hospitals.