A report from the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice recently revealed that as many as 1 in 6 Medicare patients were re-hospitalized within 30 days of discharge. Researchers examined hospital discharge records of 10.7 million Medicare patients from July 1, 2003 through June, 30 2009 and found that little to no progress had been made in reducing the instances of re-hospitalizations.
Their findings show the following 30-day re-hospitalization rates:
- 12.7% for patients hospitalized with surgery (no change from 2004)
- 14.5% for patients hospitalized with hip-fractures (up from 14.3% in 2004)
- 15.3% for patients hospitalized with pneumonia (up from 15.1% in 2004)
- 18.5% for patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infractions (down from 19.4% in 2004)
- 21.2% for patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure (down from 20.9%)
“The report highlights widespread and systematic failures in coordinating care for patients after they leave the hospital,” explained David C. Goodman, MD, lead author of the report.
Medicare patients returning to the hospital shortly after discharge impose an enormous toll on available Medicare funds. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates the cost at more than $17 billion a year. Therefore, in order to counteract the cost of these unnecessary occurrences, hospitals will faced a penalty of up to 1% their total Medicare billings for excessive re-admissions beginning in fiscal year 2013; the penalty would then rise to 2% in 2014 and 3% in 2015.
“The need to develop more efficient systems of care that include discharge planning and care coordination is clear,” said Elliot S. Fisher, MD, MPH, who co-wrote the report. “The report shows the opportunity for improvement and the importance of aligning efforts to reduce re-admissions…”
