Findings from a new study show that although hospital use of postacute care was not associated with risk-adjusted complication or mortality rates, hospitals with high readmission rates and shorter lengths of stay used inpatient postacute care more frequently. The study published in Medical Care, sought to establish if hospital use of postacute care after surgery was related to measures of surgical quality. Researchers used data merged between a national surgery registry, Medicare inpatient claims, the Area Resource File, and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey (2005–2008). Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, they calculated hospital-level, risk-adjusted rates of postacute care use for both inpatient facilities (IF) and home health care (HHC), and examined the association of these rates with hospital quality measures, including mortality, complications, readmissions, and length of stay. Researchers concluded that to reduce variations in care, better criteria are needed to identify which patients benefit most from these services.
Read more: Variation in Hospital Use of Postacute Care After Surgery and the Association With Care Quality. Medical Care