U.S. Health Care System Gets A Failing Grade On Rehospitalization

If rehospitalization is considered when grading health care, America's system is not all it is cracked up to be. Proof? New evidence indicates almost a quarter of heart failure patients with Medicare are back in the hospital within a month after discharge, researchers report today in Circulation: Heart Failure. Each year, from 2004 through 2006, more than a half million Medicare recipients over age 65 went to the hospital for heart failure and were discharged alive.  And each year, about 23 percent returned to the hospital within 30 days – signaling a need to improve care, researchers said.  Readmission rates for all causes were almost identical all three years. read more

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