title: Should readmission within 30 days after discharge of children hospitalized for a neurologic disorder be considered a quality assurance failure?
abstract: The Affordable Care Act penalizes hospitals with high readmission rates. Children's hospitals are not yet among these hospitals, although that is likely to change. Because chronic neurologic conditions represent a sizable proportion of all children's hospitals costs, and because some/many of the readmissions might not be easily prevented, children's hospitals and neurologists who care for children might be inappropriately penalized for some readmissions. We encourage more study to identify the correlates of readmission of children who have a neurologic disorder.
authors.affiliation: Quality Improvement Team, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allred
authors.forename: Sookee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leviton
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Loddenkemper
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McCrave
authors.forename: Sarena Michell
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Nichol
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011336:Probability; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: chronic disease; health care; hospitals; patient discharge; quality indicators; standards