Readmissions may be “beyond a hospital’s control,” according to a new study published in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Researchers, led by Ariel Linden of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, analyzed more than 500 patients in two Oregon community hospitals. They gave half the patients an intervention featuring pre-discharge education and planning, post-discharge follow-up, an available hotline and “bridging” techniques such as daily symptom checks.
Linden and his coauthor, Susan W. Butterworth, PhD, found no statistical difference in readmissions between the two groups after both 30-day and 90-day periods, although mortality was lower in the intervention group than the control group.
