Attempting to resolve the Gordian knot of decreasing health care costs has turned out to be difficult in modern The United States. Avoidable re-admissions, or individuals that have to return to the medical center soon after leaving one, are a particularly hard problem to fix. The national medical care system has to expend considerable resources yearly to deal with the dilemma. Source of article -
Preventable re-admissions a growing problem for hospitals by Newsytype.com.
More than 4 million avoidable re-admissions
Hospital re-admissions are a huge dilemma in the United States medical care system right now, among several other difficulties hospitals and insurers face. When patients are discharged before they should be, some wind up being admitted to the hospital again. The Wall Street Journal reports that there are about 4.4 million re-admissions yearly to the hospital that cost about $30 billion on healthcare expenditures each year that might be prevented. Of the total healthcare expenses, that is 10 percent. That is a big chunk of unnecessary repeats. In just PA, $1.25 was charged to insurers in 2009 for repeat admissions, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
Medicaid and Medicare just losing money
When compared to those with private insurance, those with Medicare or Medicaid get readmitted to the hospital twice as often. Those between ages 45 to 64 are where the bulk of this takes place. The Agency of Healthcare Quality and Research did a study in 2008 that showed the number of times a patient between the ages of 45 to 64 was readmitted compared to one that had private insurance or was uninsured. It occurred twice as often. Anything relating to pregnancy for Medicare patients that are ages 45 to 64 had a much higher readmission rate. Within 30 days, the readmission rate was 24.1 percent. Medicaid patients had the same dilemma. A readmission rate of 34.4 percent was shown. Non-pregnancy-related cases in patients 45 to 64 with private insurance had a readmission rate of 11.9 percent. When compared to the non-maternal adults with private insurance, there were twice as many Medicare patients 65 and older admitted. Medicare patients were older than 65 and had an overall readmission rate of 19 percent. More patients with government-funded medical care have to go back to the hospital within 30 days of being released.
The reason
Readmission to medical centers occurs all the time. There are lots of factors for it. A lot has to do with medication. According to the CDC, adverse drug events account for 700,000 emergency room visits and 120,000 hospital admissions annually, adding up to $3.5 billion in medical care spending in total. A fair portion of those involve prescription painkillers. Heroin and cocaine fatalities combined to make up for the fatalities every year from painkillers. These consist of hydrocodone and oxycodone. Many people have undiagnosed illnesses while others are simply rushed out too easily. Taking multiple medications increases the risk of an adverse drug event. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 82 percent of United States adults take at least one medication per day and 29 percent take five or much more medications per day.
Information from
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304474804576369452547349050.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
pittsburghlive.com/x/valleyindependent/editorial/s_740588.html
Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research
hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb115.jsp
CDC on Drug reactions
cdc.gov/MedicationSafety/basics.html
CDC on unintentional drug poisoning
cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Poisoning/brief_full_page.html