Background: Hospital readmissions are frequent and can represent low-quality, high-cost care. Timely post-hospital follow-up has been described as an important element of high-quality transitions of care and readmissions prevention (1-3), yet exactly what type of follow-up is most successful is unclear. We sought to understand the relationship between timing, hospital follow-up visit provider specialty and [...]

Background: Post hospital discharge review during the transition from hospital to skilled nursing facility (SNF) is critical to avoid medication errors, improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions (1-3). Despite increased integration of electronic health records (EHR) across health entities, communication gaps and discharge-related medication errors still persist (2,4). These challenges can be more predominant [...]

Background: The traditional role of hospitalists is to provide care to patients hospitalized with acute medical conditions. Over the past few years, this has evolved to improve care transitions and stewardship of hospital resources. Many hospitals may embed hospitalists in the Emergency Department (ED) to improve patient flow into the hospital; however, there are sparse [...]

Background: Despite years of intense focus, inpatient and observation readmission rates remain high and largely unchanged. Little robust evidence exists to guide hospitals in the selection of interventions effective at reducing 30 day readmissions in real-world settings. Our local healthcare system incorporated the most recent recommendations for preventing readmissions into a comprehensive program called Transition [...]

Background: Hospital readmissions are frequent and can represent low-quality, high-cost care. Timely post-hospital follow-up has been described as an important element of high-quality transitions of care and readmissions prevention (1-3), yet exactly what type of follow-up is most successful is unclear. We sought to understand the relationship between timing, hospital follow-up visit provider specialty and [...]

Background: Higher rates of 30-day readmissions are associated with lower quality hospital care, and readmissions may put patients at risk for worse health outcomes including death. Historically, 20% of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries were readmitted within 30 days, and many readmissions appeared avoidable. Accordingly, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Hospital Readmissions [...]

Background: ED visits increased to 145.59 million in 2016 (CDC 2019), resulting in an increase in hospital admissions. Chen et al. showed a correlation between the overall ED census and likelihood of admission; while, Velasquez et al. found up to 28% of hospitalists reported having admitted patients when no admission criteria were met. They described [...]

Background: Post hospital discharge review during the transition from hospital to skilled nursing facility (SNF) is critical to avoid medication errors, improve patient outcomes and reduce hospital readmissions (1-3). Despite increased integration of electronic health records (EHR) across health entities, communication gaps and discharge-related medication errors still persist (2,4). These challenges can be more predominant [...]

Background: The traditional role of hospitalists is to provide care to patients hospitalized with acute medical conditions. Over the past few years, this has evolved to improve care transitions and stewardship of hospital resources. Many hospitals may embed hospitalists in the Emergency Department (ED) to improve patient flow into the hospital; however, there are sparse [...]

Background: A fifth of older adults discharged from the hospital require readmission within 30 days. Readmissions impose an enormous burden on both patients and the healthcare system. Previous investigations have found that less than half of discharged patients are able to understand and execute the discharge plan and are likely to overestimate their comprehension of [...]