According to the report, many of the return visits are readmissions to the hospital, which could be prevented with better follow-up care. The NEJM study found that one fifth of Medicare patients are readmitted within a month of discharge from the hospital.
One half of the patients who returned to the hospital did not see a doctor before coming back, according to the report.
High return rates have long been an issue for Medicare, and controlling costs is important. According to the report, $17 billion was spent on return trips in 2004 alone.
The Obama administration’s budget calls for $26 billion in savings in readmissions over 10 years and includes a provision for lowing payments to hospitals with high readmission rates.
Many analysts found that readmission was due to inadequate instructions for elderly patients after they leave the hospital and the difficulty of this patient group in making follow-up appointments, according to the report.
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