Hospital Readmission and the Timing of Postdischarge Outpatient Follow-up

Abstract

Postdischarge follow-up appointments are widely thought to improve the safety of transition for patients moving from the hospital to home. They provide an opportunity for outpatient primary care providers to detect problems or failures of postdischarge care. Readmissions can be used to reflect the quality of postdischarge or transitional care. This study evaluated whether patients with an outpatient follow-up appointment scheduled with their primary care provider within five calendar days of discharge had fewer 30-day readmissions than those patients who had appointments scheduled six days or longer from discharge. No difference in readmission rate was detected between the two groups.