TY - JOUR
T1 - Interventions to reduce 30-day rehospitalization
T2 - A systematic review
AU - Hansen, Luke O.
AU - Young, Robert S.
AU - Hinami, Keiki
AU - Leung, Alicia
AU - Williams, Mark V.
PY - 2011/10/18
Y1 - 2011/10/18
N2 - Background: About 1 in 5 Medicare fee-for-service patients discharged from the hospital is rehospitalized within 30 days. Beginning in 2013, hospitals with high risk-standardized readmission rates will be subject to a Medicare reimbursement penalty. Purpose: To describe interventions evaluated in studies aimed at reducing rehospitalization within 30 days of discharge. Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for reports published between January 1975 and January 2011. Study Selection: English-language randomized, controlled trials; cohort studies; or noncontrolled before-after studies of interventions to reduce rehospitalization that reported rehospitalization rates within 30 days. Data Extraction: 2 reviewers independently identified candidate articles from the results of the initial search on the basis of title and abstract. Two 2-physician reviewer teams reviewed the full text of candidate articles to identify interventions and assess study quality. Data Synthesis: 43 articles were identified, and a taxonomy was developed to categorize interventions into 3 domains that encompassed 12 distinct activities. Predischarge interventions included patient education, medication reconciliation, discharge planning, and scheduling of a follow-up appointment before discharge. Postdischarge interventions included follow-up telephone calls, patientactivated hotlines, timely communication with ambulatory providers, timely ambulatory provider follow-up, and postdischarge home visits. Bridging interventions included transition coaches, physician continuity across the inpatient and outpatient setting, and patientcentered discharge instruction. Limitations: Inadequate description of individual studies' interventions precluded meta-analysis of effects. Many studies identified in the review were single-institution assessments of quality improvement activities rather than those with experimental designs. Several common interventions have not been studied outside of multicomponent "discharge bundles." Conclusion: No single intervention implemented alone was regularly associated with reduced risk for 30-day rehospitalization.
AB - Background: About 1 in 5 Medicare fee-for-service patients discharged from the hospital is rehospitalized within 30 days. Beginning in 2013, hospitals with high risk-standardized readmission rates will be subject to a Medicare reimbursement penalty. Purpose: To describe interventions evaluated in studies aimed at reducing rehospitalization within 30 days of discharge. Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched for reports published between January 1975 and January 2011. Study Selection: English-language randomized, controlled trials; cohort studies; or noncontrolled before-after studies of interventions to reduce rehospitalization that reported rehospitalization rates within 30 days. Data Extraction: 2 reviewers independently identified candidate articles from the results of the initial search on the basis of title and abstract. Two 2-physician reviewer teams reviewed the full text of candidate articles to identify interventions and assess study quality. Data Synthesis: 43 articles were identified, and a taxonomy was developed to categorize interventions into 3 domains that encompassed 12 distinct activities. Predischarge interventions included patient education, medication reconciliation, discharge planning, and scheduling of a follow-up appointment before discharge. Postdischarge interventions included follow-up telephone calls, patientactivated hotlines, timely communication with ambulatory providers, timely ambulatory provider follow-up, and postdischarge home visits. Bridging interventions included transition coaches, physician continuity across the inpatient and outpatient setting, and patientcentered discharge instruction. Limitations: Inadequate description of individual studies' interventions precluded meta-analysis of effects. Many studies identified in the review were single-institution assessments of quality improvement activities rather than those with experimental designs. Several common interventions have not been studied outside of multicomponent "discharge bundles." Conclusion: No single intervention implemented alone was regularly associated with reduced risk for 30-day rehospitalization.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=80054772538&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7326/0003-4819-155-8-201110180-00008
DO - 10.7326/0003-4819-155-8-201110180-00008
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:80054772538
SN - 0003-4819
VL - 155
SP - 520
EP - 528
JO - Annals of internal medicine
JF - Annals of internal medicine
IS - 8
ER -