Research from Columbia Business School published in the National Bureau of Economic Research finds keeping patients in the hospital for one day longer can significantly reduce readmission and mortality rates, along with healthcare costs.
Researchers analyzed data on more than 6.6 million Medicare patients treated between 2008 and 2011. They found a single additional day as an inpatient can reduce the mortality risk for pneumonia patients by 22 percent, reduce the mortality risk for heart attack patients by 7 percent and decrease readmission rates for severe heart failure patients by 7 percent.
In total, the researchers suggest that extra day in the hospital could save five to six times as many lives than outpatient programs.
What's more, the findings suggest the extra day in the hospital could reduce overall healthcare costs by curbing readmission rates. Currently, approximately 20 percent of Medicare patients experiences a 30-day readmission, which costs nearly $17 billion every year.
Researchers suggest hospitals taking on the additional costs of one more inpatient day may be a more cost-effective option in saving lives.
"Given the stiff penalties imposed under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals are implementing a variety of approaches to aggressively reduce readmission rates, most commonly involving outpatient care," said Ann P. Bartel, professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, in a release discussing the study's findings. "While some types of outpatient interventions can be effective, our study shows that hospitals should consider keeping some of their patients in the hospital longer to better control patient care, reduce readmissions and ensure fewer deaths."
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