By Holly Fletcher: The juncture where patients are discharged from hospitals to skilled nursing facilities for rehabilitation is pinpointed by a new study as a place where greater focus could prolong lives and reduce costs.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology analyzed claims data from more than 1.5 million Medicare patients across every zip code in the country who needed emergency hospital care for injuries such as hip or femur fractures or intercerebral hemorrhage stroke.
The authors found a higher mortality rate within a year of discharge in patients who were sent to a skilled nursing facility before going home.
That's where the results get muddled. John Graves, co-author and assistant professor of health policy and medicine at Vanderbilt, said the results are inconclusive about whether the mortality rate is directly linked to care received at the nursing facility, the seriousness of illness or care at the hospital.
