Abstract 20477: Impact of Same-Hospital Readmissions in Heart Failure Patient Population

Background: Heart Failure (HF) is one of the most common reasons for hospital readmissions, causing substantial healthcare burden. But studies to compare outcome for same-hospital readmissions vs different-hospital readmissions are lacking. Methods: HCUP’s Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD) from 2013-14 was used for HF related hospitalizations using appropriate ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes. 30-day readmissions were identified and classified into two groups: same-hospital readmissions and different-hospital readmissions. A comparative analysis was conducted focused on three metrics - mortality, length of stay (LOS) and cost of hospitalization. Cost was calculated after adjusting for inflation and merging with cost to charge ratio provided by HCUP. We used hierarchical two level modeling and propensity score matching to adjust for confounders. Results: A total of 277,476 HF readmissions were identified in 2013-14, of which 78% were same-hospital readmissions (49.12% female, 72.98% age >= 65). Univariate an...