One-Third Of Medicare 30-Day Hospital Readmissions Due To Index Condition

Less than one-third of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries rehospitalized within 30 days went back to the hospital for the same condition they were initially hospitalized for (the “index condition”); the rest were readmitted for a range of other problems. A review of FFS rehospitalizations from 2007 through 2009 examined readmission patterns during the 30 days following discharge for people hospitalized for heart failure, heart attack, and pneumonia. The researchers proposed that the physical and psychological stress of the initial hospitalization may contribute to a weakened state dubbed “post-hospital syndrome” in which the discharged patient is susceptible to . . .