Patient re-admission is too costly to swallow

Many Americans are wondering if health care reform will be enough to offset the massive financial burdens that have plagued the nation’s health care system for the past few decades. Practicing preventative medicine is vital to the nation’s well-being, yet America doesn’t appear to be proficient in that regard. After just 30 days, says a 2009 New England Journal of Medicine study, about 20 percent of patients are ready to go back to the hospital for the very same problem that previously required they be admitted. After 90 days, that percentage climbs to 34 percent. Startlingly, after one year, two-thirds are either readmitted or they die.

The re-admission of patients is inefficient and costly

As outlined by the Huffington Post, the cost of Medicare was $17.4 billion in 2004. That money black hole forced Medicare to begin paying closer attention to which hospitals had the highest bounce-back rate of re-admission. Top offenders were penalized financially. This threat created a new industry, where corporations would extend their services to those hospitals in need of improvement. As various studies show that 75 percent of re-admissions are preventable, there appear to be numerous avenues through which hospitals could enact improvements in patient care.

Hospitals and nursing homes won’t take ownership

Lack of communication between acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities is a common thread in just how likely a patient is to avoid rebounding back into care. Not sharing the right info on patient and meds are among the communication issues at hand. The problem grows significantly for those Medicaid patients who are older and are shuttled between general and intensive care facilities.

Insurance companies and Medicare frequently display short-sightedness

The American Geriatric Society found in a recent study that Medicare and insurance companies prefer to recommend skilled nursing facilities over inpatient rehab for stroke victims, reports the Post. Doing so is less expensive upfront, but the rebound rate is 14.3 percent at the previous, when the more intensive care given at inpatient rehabilitation facilities results in only a 2 to 3 percent re-admission rate. Couple the clear cost difference with the proven statistical fact that patients who enter inpatient rehab facilities after a stroke are three times more likely to return home after care and the lack of vision on the part of Medicare and private insurance becomes particularly disturbing.

Ask questions of your doctor and care facility

Patients and those who care about them must ask doctors questions in order to assess the risk of future re-admittance. Ask about the risks and be certain that future care instructions are quite clear. If you’d like more info on what questions to ask, look into the Huffington Post article.

Additional reading

Huffington Post

huffingtonpost.com/richard-c-senelick-md/the-bounce-back-effect-ho_b_677575.html