Readmission Challenges and Impacts Within ERAS

A preconceived notion exists that since enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols lead to accelerated discharge, they may also lead to increased readmission rates. The data, however, do not support this suspicion. ERAS protocols have consistently led to decreased length of hospital stay, without a measurable impact on readmission rates or emergency room utilization. This chapter will focus on readmissions and how we may be able to decrease readmission rates even further within the context of ERAS protocols by anticipating and preventing readmissions with the aid of preoperative optimization (multimodal prehabilitation), improved communication and patient teaching, and perioperative predictive analytics.