Elderly Population At Risk For Hospital Readmission

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With a variety of trends that account for the increasing cases of the elderly population at risk for hospital readmission, the authors discuss an in depth evaluation on why this occurs. Hospital readmission, a growing health concern, tallied in a whopping $17 B in Medicare cost for unplanned hospitalizations. Readmission, refers to a return to the hospital after discharge from a recent stay where rates are reported mostly at 30, 60, and 90-day intervals after discharge. Even though the elderly, aged 60 years or older, unfailingly represent the highest rate of hospital readmissions compared to other age groups, according to the authors, readmission rates have been associated with patient demographics, chronic conditions and utilization factors. Additionally, although the aforementioned factors contribute to readmission, adverse events such as injuries that result from hospitalization or at home like medication errors. According to (Robinson, Howie-Esquivel, & Vlahov)
According to the authors, the elements that lead to most hospital readmission in the Elderly population consist of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, frequency of drug use, individual patient level factors, visits to outpatient care facilities, and system-level factors. sociodemographic factors encompass some of the hierarchical needs chart such age, sex, socioeconomic status, education, social support, insurance type, financial status and access to or availability of services. After research was
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