FROM THE FOUNDATION

End-of-Life Choices

Trends in end-of-life care show that not only does the care given vary widely from region to region and hospital to hospital, but also patients often don't get the care they prefer. What can be done?

Care Management Puzzle

Chronic diseases and the cost of care are rising. Are disease management programs improving outcomes for patients with complex, chronic conditions?

No Middleman

Under the "direct primary care" model, patients pay a monthly fee for basic medical services. Learn about the history and current landscape of physician practices offering this arrangement.

Chronic Disease Care

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Indigent Patient Populations Tied to Higher Readmissions

Hospitals with the most low-income patients are nearly three times more likely to report high congestive heart failure readmission rates than other hospitals, according to an analysis by Kaiser Health News. For the analysis, KHN studied 30-day congestive heart failure readmission rates at 3,119 U.S. hospitals from July 2007 to June 2010 using the CMS Hospital Compare website. According to the analysis, 11.7% of the hospitals that treated the greatest share of low-income patients were ranked by Medicare as having worse rehospitalization rates than the national average. In comparison, only 4.3% of remaining hospitals reported higher-than-average rates.



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