Hospital Readmission Rates Linked To General Admission Trends, Not Discharge Planning

A recent study has found that hospital readmission rates are linked to the admission trends in the hospital’s geographic area, not the hospital’s performance. Meaning that hospitals located in regions of the United States with high admission rates are more likely to have high readmission rates than hospitals in regions with lower overall admission rates. In high admission regions, readmission rates were linked to overall use of hospital services, rather than patient condition severity, quality of care, or quality of discharge planning. These are findings of “The Relationship between Hospital Admission Rates and Rehospitalizations” by Arnold M. Epstein . . .