Vernon, D., Brown, J. E., Griffiths, E., Nevill, A. M., & Pinkney, M. (2019). Reducing readmission rates through a discharge follow-up service. Future healthcare journal, 6(2), 114–117. Web.
The primary purpose of this article is to examine how readmission rates influence hospital finances. Ninety-eight Washington hospitals were reviewed from 2012 to 2014. The study’s methodology used hospital-level fixed effects regression because it allows to watch and control all unchangeable factors. There are 276 hospital year observations when this methodology was applied. This paper makes a new contribution to the research field by studying the link between readmission parameters and financial indicators in the health care system. Examining an association between described two measures may help reduce readmission rates and maintain the profitability of healthcare organizations.
The authors reached some interesting findings, and the main one is that readmission indicators have an association with financial performance in different ways. The study found that operating revenue per patient is strongly correlated with definite health disease; simultaneously, operating margin is closely associated with readmission rates because of pneumonia (PN). However, an examination of heart failure concluded that this model is not statistically significant.
This research lends evidence to support the problem of readmission rates in health disease, for it evaluates associations between different measures that were not examined before. It reveals that readmission rates are connected in some ways with operating revenues per patient, operating expenses per patient, and operating margin. Findings may help to optimize the financial performance of healthcare organizations that would be helpful both for them and patients.
Upadhyay, S., Stephenson, A. L., & Smith, D. G. (2019). Readmission Rates and Their Impact on Hospital Financial Performance: A Study of Washington Hospitals. Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing, 56, 46958019860386. Web.
The study’s primary purpose is to examine the effect of a discharge follow-up service on readmission rates. The evaluation compared the 30-day emergency readmission rate in patients who were in contact with nurses and who were not. There were 756 patients in all observed in 7 hospitals, 453 of which were in a comparison group. The evaluation took six months to come to a conclusion. The cohort study’s method used comparison groups as it is an effective way to know the effects of some interventions. Its primary finding is that there is a reduction of readmission rates due to community nurse follow-up after discharge. Where contact with patients was made, this rate was 9.24% compared to 15.67% where it was not. These numbers allow the reader to see the role of such intervention in reducing readmission rates.
This work is significant because it presents strong proof that a telephone call can decrease readmission rates because patients receive a home visit due to it. Necessary medications advice and medical examination at home can prevent the development of health issues and, therefore, prevent patients’ readmission. This service evaluation defined that contact from a community nurse the following discharge is an effective practice. It shows that nurse’s role is essential in controlling a stream of patients with health diseases.
This research lends evidence to support the problem of readmission parameters in health diseases, for it points a way to decrease them. Moreover, specific measures have been taken to avoid bias; for example, groups of patients were restricted to being treated in the same rooms. It means that this service evaluation was objective; therefore, the influence of nurse-client communication after release from hospital can be explored further.