title: Does telephone follow-up predict patient satisfaction and readmission?
abstract: Nursing telephone calls after hospital discharge are commonly adopted as a tool to improve patient satisfaction and continuity of care. Previous research, however, has been inconclusive on the impact of telephone follow-up. The purpose of this study was to comparatively examine patients who received telephone follow-up for response differences on a mail satisfaction survey and 30-day readmission rates for a large health system in southeast Texas. Telephone follow-up, patient satisfaction, and administrative billing data from 2008 to 2009 were retrospectively examined across 10 nursing units that routinely performed calls after patient discharge. Patients eligible to receive a nursing call (N = 10,559) were categorized based on responses to nursing questions or if no contact was made. Logistic regression was used to evaluate whether call data significantly predicted survey response and 30-day readmission rates. Nonparametric analysis was used to evaluate whether survey ratings varied between groups. Completion of telephone follow-up was a significant (P <  0.01) predictor of patient response to the mail survey, with 62% more patients returning surveys after contact. Completion of a nursing call with a patient who reported a physician appointment was a significant predictor (P  =  0.04) of lower 30-day readmissions. Readmission rates were 10.8% for patients who did not receive telephone follow-up compared to 9.5% for patients who received a call and who had a scheduled physician appointment. Mean nursing and overall satisfaction scores varied minimally between groups and telephone follow-up was not a significant predictor of patient satisfaction. Telephone follow-up shows significant predictive value for mail survey response and 30-day readmission rates but does not correlate with patient satisfaction scores in the hospital setting.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics at Houston, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston , Houston, Texas, USA. John.D.Damore@uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: D'Amore
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010359:Patient Readmission; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013689:Telephone; D013781:Texas