Hospital readmissions common, studies find

As many as one in five people who have been hospitalized may end up back there -- either in the emergency room or readmitted, according to two large new studies of millions of U.S. patients.

The first study found that about 20 percent of those discharged ended up needing acute care within 30 days.

The second looked at readmission rates for specific conditions -- heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia. It found readmission rates within a month of 18 percent to 25 percent.

"We know that readmissions have been a problem for some time, yet we don't seem to be able to crack this nut and figure out a way to reduce readmissions," said Dr. Anne-Marie Audet, vice president for health system quality and efficiency for the Commonwealth Fund, a Manhattan-based health advocacy foundation.

"Readmission rates are a measure that shows that the system for care is not integrated well enough. It's not necessarily an indicator that the hospital is poor quality or the primary-care physician is poor quality -- it's the whole system," Audet said.

"The only way we can achieve better health, better health outcomes and better cost is to bring everyone together. But it's quite a complex issue."

Audet co-wrote an editorial that accompanied the studies, which appear in Wednesday's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

-- HealthDay