Hospital Strategies To Decrease Readmission Rates Not Linked To Higher Post-Discharge Mortality Rates

Hospital strategies to decrease 30-day readmission rates have not resulted in an increase in 30-day post-discharge mortality rates. Before readmission rate reductions, post-discharge mortality rates were 8.4% for heart failure (HF), 7.6% for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and 8.5% for pneumonia. However, as readmission rates dropped over time in all three conditions, post-discharge mortality rate dropped slightly, as well. These findings were consistent across various definitions and criteria for hospital mortality.

These findings were reported in “Association of Changing Hospital Readmission Rates With Mortality Rates After Hospital Discharge” by Kumar Dharmarajan, MD . . .