Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Readmissions in Older Adults

Abstract

Hospital readmission is of growing importance in the healthcare industry because of associated patient and system costs, impact to the quality of patient care, and hospital Medicare payment penalties. The increasing interest in sepsis readmission prevention has highlighted the uniqueness of severe sepsis or septic shock survivors. The results of this study provide insight into the relationship between index hospital length of stay (LOS) and 30-day readmissions for older adults (> 65 years) who discharged home from an index hospital with a principle or secondary discharge diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between index hospital LOS and 30-day readmissions in older adults (> 65 years) whose expected primary payer was Medicare and who discharged home with a principle or secondary diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock. Data used to answer the proposed research questions consisted of older adult discharge records from the 2014 Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Differences in 30-day readmissions between older adult age groups, gender, and older adult location were examined. The number of days to readmission since discharge was evaluated for the subset of older adults with a readmission. Approximately 15.6% of older adults were readmitted within 30 days of their discharge. Readmissions were statistically different based on the older adult’s age, gender, and LOS. Location did not have a significant effect on readmissions. Mean LOS among readmitted older adults was 10.1 days. Analysis indicates that an older adult’s LOS had a significant effect on readmissions, although models performed poorly. Findings suggest that there are certain factors that can predict older adults who are at risk for being readmitted after being discharged with a principle or secondary discharge diagnosis of severe sepsis or septic shock.