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: 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: Hospital discharge is a complex process that requires coordination from various parties. There still remains a significant rate of readmission, with a reported 30 day readmission of roughly 20% and annual cost of $18 Billion to Medicare. Patients with adequate discharge planning have a decreased readmission rate. Recent studies that demonstrated that high risk [...]

Background: Preventing readmissions of patients with chronic illness can improve healthcare outcomes and decrease costs. Previously reported Medicare claims data from 2003 to 2004 showed that 19.6% of Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the hospital were readmitted within 30 days at a cost of $17.4 billion. Our 232-bed community hospital has set a goal to reduce [...]

Background: Unplanned readmissions in the U.S. healthcare system cost over $15 billion annually, a burden that increasingly impacts health systems as more patients transition to fully capitated models [1-2]. Despite evidence supporting the protective effect of post-hospitalization visits with primary care providers (PCPs), patient completion rates of these visits remain low [3-5]. Barriers include provider [...]