title: Addressing Hospital Readmissions: Impact of Weekly Review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The prevention of hospital readmissions has become an area for improvement for most health care organizations. Systematic reviews have been unable to identify a single intervention or bundle of interventions that reliably reduced risk of readmission in a generalizable manner. The aim of this quality improvement project was to examine the readmission rate to a family medicine residency program inpatient service following the implementation of a once per week session that reviewed patients who were readmitted during the prior week.
  
  
  METHODS
  The inpatient admissions and readmission to the family medicine inpatient service associated with a large academic health center were used for analysis. The impact of a regularly scheduled multidisciplinary team meeting that reviewed a list of patients was examined. Readmitted patients who were at high risk for readmission were specifically identified. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize and summarize the integral data obtained. The weekly readmission rate was presented using a control chart.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The readmission rate for the patients hospitalized after the intervention was 18.4%, compared to the readmission rate prior to the intervention (23.0%). While not a statistically different rate, a significant signal was noted. Demographic differences were noted in the group of patients considered to be high risk for readmission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regular rounds of an inpatient team that focuses on readmissions during the previous week reduced hospital readmissions. The impact of these sessions appears to be multifactorial.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health and Family Medicine, University of Florida.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Carek
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Malaty
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: Maribeth
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: Paulette
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blanc
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Samraj
mesh_terms: D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012307:Risk Factors