title: Predictors of rehospitalization in high-utilizing patients in the VA psychiatric medical system.
abstract: 233 high-service-utilizing (HSU) psychiatric patients were recruited during an inpatient psychiatric treatment. They completed a questionnaire related to their treatment beliefs and were tracked via computerized medical records over 2 years. During the follow-up period, 79.8% were readmitted for additional inpatient psychiatric treatment. Survival analysis techniques were used to examine patients' rates of readmittance during the follow-up period. Number of previous year inpatient psychiatric days served as a significant predictor of readmittance status and time to readmission. The survival plot was split by previous-year inpatient days to examine the effect of this variable on readmission. Implications of findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research and Development, Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center, PO Box 130170, Ann Arbor, MI 48113-0170, USA. nbowersox@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Nicholas W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Bowersox
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.forename: Bertrand D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013997:Time Factors; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data