Health Affairs

Health Affairs, 29, no. 1 (2010): 57-64 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0629 © 2010 by Project HOPE	New Online   September Issue: Malpractice & Errors   Uninsured Children   Workers' Insurance Burden   Policy Brief: Meaningful Use

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The Revolving Door Of Rehospitalization From Skilled Nursing Facilities

Vincent Mor¹, Orna Intrator², Zhanlian Feng³ and David C. Grabowski^4,*

¹ Vincent Mor is chair of the Department of Community Health at the Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Providence, Rhode Island. He formerly served as director of the Brown University Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research.
² Orna Intrator is an applied statistician and health services researcher and an assistant professor (research) of community health in the Brown University Division of Biology and Medicine.
³ Zhanlian Feng is an assistant professor (research) of community health at Brown University.
⁴ David C. Grabowski (grabowski{at}hcp.med.harvard.edu) is an associate professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.

Almost one-fourth of Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility were readmitted to the hospital within thirty days; this cost Medicare $4.34 billion in 2006. Especially in an elderly population, cycling into and out of hospitals can be emotionally upsetting and can increase the likelihood of medical errors related to care coordination. Payment incentives in Medicare do not encourage providers to coordinate beneficiaries’ care. Revising these incentives could achieve major savings for providers and improved quality of life for beneficiaries.

Key Words: Long-Term Care • Medicare • Hospitals

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