Differences in Primary Care Follow-up After Acute Care Discharge Within and Across Health Systems: a Retrospective Cohort Study.
J Gen Intern Med
; 39(8): 1431-1437, 2024 Jun.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38228989
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Timely primary care follow-up after acute care discharge may improve outcomes.OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate whether post-discharge follow-up rates differ among patients discharged from hospitals directly affiliated with their primary care clinic (same-site), other hospitals within their health system (same-system), and hospitals outside their health system (outside-system).DESIGN:
Retrospective cohort study. PATIENTS Adult patients of five primary care clinics within a 14-hospital health system who were discharged home after a hospitalization or emergency department (ED) stay. MAINMEASURES:
Primary care visit within 14 days of discharge. A multivariable Poisson regression model was used to estimate adjusted rate ratios (aRRs) and risk differences (aRDs), controlling for sociodemographics, acute visit characteristics, and clinic characteristics. KEYRESULTS:
The study included 14,310 discharges (mean age 58.4 [SD 19.0], 59.5% female, 59.5% White, 30.3% Black), of which 57.7% were from the same-site, 14.3% same-system, and 27.9% outside-system. By 14 days, 34.5% of patients discharged from the same-site hospital received primary care follow-up compared to 27.7% of same-system discharges (aRR 0.88, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.98; aRD - 6.5 percentage points (pp), 95% CI - 11.6 to - 1.5) and 20.9% of outside-system discharges (aRR 0.77, 95% CI [0.70 to 0.85]; aRD - 11.9 pp, 95% CI - 16.2 to - 7.7). Differences were greater for hospital discharges than ED discharges (e.g., aRD between same-site and outside-system - 13.5 pp [95% CI, - 20.8 to - 8.3] for hospital discharges and - 10.1 pp [95% CI, - 15.2 to - 5.0] for ED discharges).CONCLUSIONS:
Patients discharged from a hospital closely affiliated with their primary care clinic were more likely to receive timely follow-up than those discharged from other hospitals within and outside their health system. Improving care transitions requires coordination across both care settings and health systems.
Texto completo:
1
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Alta del Paciente
/
Atención Primaria de Salud
Tipo de estudio:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Gen Intern Med
Asunto de la revista:
MEDICINA INTERNA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos