Predicting non-elective hospital readmissions: a multi-site study. Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Group on Primary Care and Readmissions.

Smith DM, Giobbie-Hurder A, Weinberger M, Oddone EZ, Henderson WG, Asch DA, Ashton CM, Feussner JR, Ginier P, Huey JM, Hynes DM, Loo L, Mengel CE. Predicting non-elective hospital readmissions: a multi-site study. Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study Group on Primary Care and Readmissions. Journal of clinical epidemiology. 2000 Nov 1; 53(11):1113-8.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• RCS 91-408 – Research Career Scientist Award

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.    Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions

Search for Abstract from PubMed

---

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To determine clinical and patient-centered factors predicting non-elective hospital readmissions. DESIGN: Secondary analysis from a randomized clinical trial. CLINICAL SETTING: Nine VA medical centers. PARTICIPANTS: Patients discharged from the medical service with diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: Non-elective readmission within 90 days. RESULTS: Of 1378 patients discharged, 23.3% were readmitted. After controlling for hospital and intervention status, risk of readmission was increased if the patient had more hospitalizations and emergency room visits in the prior 6 months, higher blood urea nitrogen, lower mental health function, a diagnosis of COPD, and increased satisfaction with access to emergency care assessed on the index hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Both clinical and patient-centered factors identifiable at discharge are related to non-elective readmission. These factors identify high-risk patients and provide guidance for future interventions. The relationship of patient satisfaction measures to readmission deserves further study.