title: Hospital variation in quality of discharge summaries for patients hospitalized with heart failure exacerbation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Single-site studies have demonstrated inadequate quality of discharge summaries in timeliness, transmission, and content, potentially contributing to adverse outcomes. However, degree of hospital-level variation in discharge summary quality for patients hospitalized with heart failure (HF) is uncertain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analyzed discharge summaries of patients enrolled in the Telemonitoring to Improve Heart Failure Outcomes (Tele-HF) study. We assessed hospital-level performance on timeliness (fraction of summaries completed on the day of discharge), documented transmission to the follow-up physician, and content (presence of components suggested by the Transitions of Care Consensus Conference). We obtained 1501 discharge summaries from 1640 (91.5%) patients discharged alive from 46 hospitals. Among hospitals contributing ≥ 10 summaries, the median hospital dictated 69.2% of discharge summaries on the day of discharge (range, 0.0%-98.0%; P<0.001); documented transmission of 33.3% of summaries to the follow-up physician (range, 0.0%-75.7%; P<0.001); and included 3.6 of 7 Transitions of Care Consensus Conference elements (range, 2.9-4.5; P<0.001). Hospital course was typically included (97.2%), but summaries were less likely to include discharge condition (30.7%), discharge volume status (16.0%), or discharge weight (15.7%). No discharge summary included all 7 Transitions of Care Consensus Conference-endorsed content elements, was dictated on the day of discharge, and was sent to a follow-up physician.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even at the highest performing hospital, discharge summary quality is insufficient in terms of timeliness, transmission, and content. Improvements in all aspects of discharge summary quality are necessary to enable the discharge summary to serve as an effective transitional care tool.
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Mohammed Salim
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Al-Damluji
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Kristina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dzara
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hodshon
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Natdanai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Punnanithinont
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Harlan M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Krumholz
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.).
authors.forename: Sarwat I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.affiliation: From the Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine (M.S.A.-D., K.D., S.I.C.), Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine (B.H., H.M.K.), and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Department of Internal Medicine (H.M.K.), Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Medicine, Erie County Medical Center, Buffalo, NY (N.P.); Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT (H.M.K., S.I.C.); Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT (H.M.K.); Center for Healthcare Innovation and Delivery Science, New York University Langone Medical Center (L.I.H.); and Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health and Division of General Internal Medicine and Clinical Innovation, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine (L.I.H.). leora.horwitz@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Leora I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Horwitz
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards*; D018450:Disease Progression; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000592:standards*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards*; D063886:Patient Discharge Summaries / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000592:standards; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
keywords: epidemiology; heart failure; quality of healthcare