In 2021, how often did an unplanned rehospitalization occur after a stay in a Swiss acute care hospital? The answer can be found in the evaluations published by the National Association for Quality Development in Hospitals and Clinics (ANQ). The analysis is based on 806,520 hospitalizations at 170 hospital and clinic sites.
As part of the ANQ’s national quality measurements, 806,520 hospitalizations at 170 hospital and clinic sites were examined for unplanned readmissions. These are defined as unanticipated acute clinical events that occur within 30 days of hospitalization and require hospital readmission. The analysis is based on data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office’s (SFSO) Medical Statistics of Hospitals and covers the period from Dec. 1, 2020, to Nov. 30, 2021.
Rehospitalization rates by patient group
The rehospitalization rate in 2021 was 6.13% across all 170 acute care hospitals and clinics and across all patient groups. Analysis by patient group showed that medical cases tended to have higher rates of unplanned rehospitalizations than surgical cases. Among them, the cardiorespiratory patient group showed the highest rate of 12.18% and the surgical/gynecological patient group showed the lowest rate of 4.54%.
In the hospital-wide analysis, 93 of the 170 hospital and clinic sites were within the normal range. 42 institutions were below the norm and 35 hospital and clinic sites had rates above the norm. These deviations can have various reasons. Although rehospitalizations cannot be completely avoided, the analyses can be used to identify reasons for rehospitalizations that can be influenced and appropriate measures can be taken.
Age, gender, and length of hospital stay as risk factors.
The analysis also examined selected patient characteristics that may increase the risk for unplanned rehospitalization. The risk increased with age, but decreased again from about age 80. Although women accounted for a higher proportion of initial hospitalizations, men experienced more unplanned readmissions. In addition, there was an increased risk of rehospitalization during longer hospital stays. The lower risk for shorter stays suggests that there is no general problem of early discharges in Switzerland.
Unplanned rehospitalizations are stressful for patients and represent a quality issue. For this reason, the evaluation of re-entries has been part of the ANQ’s national quality measurements since 2011. Due to a change in methodology, the evaluations for data year 2020 were not published publicly. The analysis results for the data year 2021 can therefore only be compared with published rates to a limited extent.
Source: «Analyse der ungeplanten Spital-Wiedereintritte 2021», 10.10.2023, ANQ.
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