A shift from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance and bundled payments is pushing providers to consider unplanned readmissions and take additional measures to prevent them. The study authors examined hospital administrative data from a single-tertiary institution for six common lumbar pathologies from 2011 to 2013. They identified all readmissions within 90 days of discharge.
There were 1,306 patients identified for the study. The researchers found:
1. There were 70 readmissions with 13 planned and 43 unplanned. The researchers also found 13 coding errors.
2. Unplanned readmission rate was 2.1 percent to 7.1 percent, depending on pathology. The overall readmission rate was 3.3 percent.
3. The factors associated with readmissions were:
• Length of stay
• Discharge position
• Illness score severity
• Surgical approach
4. Adding fusion to the decompression procedures didn’t increase readmission rates.
5. The most common reasons for readmissions were surgical site infections and wound complications. They accounted for 72 percent of all the readmissions 90 days after discharge.
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