Hospital Readmissions of Older Patients

Heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia, three common conditions that often lead to hospitalizatons for older patients. But what happens to these patients after they are discharged from the hospital? A new study examined the frequency, reason for and timing of rehospitalizations occurring within 30 days of hospital discharge.  “The reasons they were initially admitted to the hospital were commonly not the reasons that they were coming back even within the first 30 days after leaving the hospital.” Dr. Harlan Krumholz and co-authors examined Medicare fee- for-service beneficiaries admitted to the hospital from 2007 to 2009. Among patients rehospitalized within 30 days, two thirds returned within the first two weeks after discharge and re-hospitalization rates remained high throughout the month. Patients experienced conditions including infection, bleeding and falls. “We need to provide support for patients as they get better, stronger, healthier, probably over the whole month after they leave the hospital.” The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.