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A new benchmark for hospital quality: 5 study notes

The rate of older adult patients discharged to post-acute care facilities following a major surgery can be used as a benchmark for hospital quality, according to a study published Aug. 14 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons

Researchers evaluated data from 277,160 patients aged 65 or older across 494 hospitals participating in the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. 

Here are five notes on the study:

  1. Only patients admitted for surgery from home or a permanent residence whose surgery occurred between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2023, were included in the analysis.
  1. Across all patients, 11.2% of older adult patients were discharged to a post-acute care facility after surgery.
  2. About 59% of hospitals had average or expected rates of discharge to post-acute care facilities, while 24% and 17% of hospitals had higher and lower discharge rates, respectively, according to an Aug. 25 news release from the American College of Surgeons.
  1. Of the highest-risk patients, 32.9% were discharged to a post-acute care facility.
  2. “Research has demonstrated that there are interventions that can mitigate some unnecessary discharge to post-acute care facilities, such as screening patients at highest risk for poor outcomes, […] then utilizing those screenings to focus interventions on those high-risk patients, such as prehabilitation or more targeted physical therapy during the perioperative period,” lead study author Sarah Remer, MD, said in the American College of Surgeons news release.

Read the full study here

The post A new benchmark for hospital quality: 5 study notes appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

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