New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Early post-surgery follow-up visits to primary care physicians cuts hospital readmissions

Date:
June 25, 2014
Source:
University of Utah Health Sciences
Summary:
Patients who have post-operative complications following high-risk surgery have a significantly lower risk of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days if they go see their primary care physician soon following discharge, a new study shows. The study also shows that better coordination of care between surgeons and primary care physicians is important to help reduce hospital readmissions for those high-risk surgery patients who have post-operative complications or live with a chronic disease
Share:
FULL STORY

Patients who have post-operative complications following high-risk surgery have a significantly lower risk of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 days if they go see their primary care physician soon following discharge, a new study in JAMA Surgery shows.

The study shows that better coordination of care between surgeons and primary care physicians is important to help reduce hospital readmissions within 30 days for those high-risk surgery patients who have post-operative complications or live with a chronic disease, according to Benjamin S. Brooke, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine and first author on the study.

Brooke, along with co-researchers at Dartmouth College, examined records of more than 12,000 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent open surgery to repair a thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA), a high-risk procedure, and almost 53,000 who received a ventral hernia repair (VHR), a lower-risk operation, between 2003-2010.

They found that patients who underwent TAA surgery were much more likely to experience post-operative complications and be readmitted compared to those who had VHR surgery. Nearly 37 percent of TAA surgery patients experienced complications following surgery while 8 percent of VHR patients had complications.

Early follow-up with a primary care physician had a major influence on whether TAA patients with medical and surgical complications had to go back to the hospital, according to the study. Those who saw their primary care provider within 30 days after surgery had a 20 percent readmission rate compared to a rate of 35 percent among those who did not have an early follow-up visit with their primary care physician.

The study makes a good case for better coordination of care between surgeons and primary care physicians, according to Brooke.

“Clearly, follow-up visits with a primary care provider soon after surgery will help ensure that a patient’s medical complication or chronic disease conditions are being optimally managed,” he says. “Clear communication between surgeons and primary care providers at the time of hospital discharge can help make sure these follow-up visits happen.”


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Utah Health Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Benjamin S. Brooke, David H. Stone, Jack L. Cronenwett, Brian Nolan, Randall R. DeMartino, Todd A. MacKenzie, David C. Goodman, Philip P. Goodney. Early Primary Care Provider Follow-up and Readmission After High-Risk Surgery. JAMA Surgery, 2014; DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2014.157

Cite This Page:

University of Utah Health Sciences. "Early post-surgery follow-up visits to primary care physicians cuts hospital readmissions." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 June 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140625201724.htm>.
University of Utah Health Sciences. (2014, June 25). Early post-surgery follow-up visits to primary care physicians cuts hospital readmissions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140625201724.htm
University of Utah Health Sciences. "Early post-surgery follow-up visits to primary care physicians cuts hospital readmissions." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140625201724.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES