Recommending a patient to an post-acute care facility following major cardiac, joint or spine surgery rather than the patient's own home may not always be necessary, according to findings of a new self-examining study from NYU Langone Medical Center.
NYU Langone sharply reduced the percentage of patients discharged to post-acute care facilities after certain surgeries and saw no corresponding increase in readmission rates, reported medical center researchers.
The institution began implementing the new approach to post-surgery care two years ago as a means to cut costs and improve care quality while participating a Medicare pilot program called the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement. Under this program, an episode of care included a hospital stay plus a 90-day recovery period.
During this time, patient referrals to post-acute care facilities after cardiac valve surgery and lower extremeity joint replacement fell 49 percent and 34 percent, respecitively.
"These results may give surgeons greater confidence in discharging patients directly home instead of to a facility, where care is more costly and potentially more disruptive to the lives of patients and families," said Leora Horwitz MD, MHS, associate professor in the Department of Population Health and director of the Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Sciences at NYU Langone Medical Center.
The original study was published in the Nov. 23rd edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
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