Study: Lower hospital readmissions linked to community resources

Patients hospitalized for a heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia were less likely to be re-admitted to the hospital if their communities had more primary care physicians and licensed nursing home beds, a Health Affairs study found. The authors used national, hospital-level data to determine whether the supply of post-discharge care options in a given community was associated with re-admission rates for Medicare patients. The authors noted that Congress’ Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program penalizes hospitals based on quality of care and does not account for the resources available in communities. They advised Congress to account for the supply of post-acute care resources in the algorithm for determining re-admission penalties. In addition, they suggested that hospitals could better support patients in choosing a post-acute care facility and invest in palliative care services and other post-acute care resources to prevent penalties. (MedPage today article, 7/7/22)