Researchers at University of Texas Medical Branch Release New Data on Medicare and Medicaid (Motor and Cognitive Functional Status Are Associated…

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Researchers at University of Texas Medical Branch Release New Data on Medicare and Medicaid (Motor and Cognitive Functional Status Are Associated with 30-day Unplanned Rehospitalization Following Post-Acute Care in Medicare Fee-for-Service ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Fresh data on Medicare and Medicaid are presented in a new report. According to news reporting out of Galveston, Texas, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "The Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act of 2014 stipulates that standardized functional status (self-care and mobility) and cognitive function data will be used for quality reporting in post-acute care settings. Thirty-day post-discharge unplanned rehospitalization is an established quality metric that has recently been extended to post-acute settings."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Texas Medical Branch, "The relationships between the functional domains in the IMPACT Act and 30-day unplanned rehospitalization are poorly understood. To determine the degree to which discharge mobility, self-care, and cognitive function are associated with 30-day unplanned rehospitalization following discharge from post-acute care. This was a retrospective cohort study. Inpatient rehabilitation facilities submitting claims and assessment data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2012-2013. Medicare fee-for-service enrollees discharged from post-acute rehabilitation in 2012-2013. The sample included community-dwelling adults admitted for rehabilitation following an acute care stay who survived for 32 days following discharge (N = 252,406). Not applicable. Thirty-day unplanned rehospitalization following post-acute rehabilitation. The unadjusted 30-day unplanned rehospitalization rate was 12.0 % (n = 30,179). Overall, patients dependent at discharge for mobility had a 50 % increased odds of rehospitalization (OR = 1.50, 95 % CI: 1.42-1.59), patients dependent for self-care a 36 % increased odds (OR = 1.36, 95 % CI: 1.27-1.47), and patients dependent for cognition a 19 % increased odds (OR = 1.19, 95 % CI: 1.09-1.29). Patients dependent for both self-care and mobility at discharge (n = 8312, 3.3 %) had a 16.1 % (95 % CI: 15.3-17.0 %) adjusted rehospitalization rate versus 8.5 % (95 % CI: 8.3-8.8 %) for those independent for both (n = 74,641; 29.6 %). The functional domains identified in the IMPACT Act were associated with 30-day unplanned rehospitalization following post-acute care in this large national sample."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Further research is needed to better understand and improve the functional measures, and to determine if their association with rehospitalizations varies across post-acute settings, patient populations, or episodes of care."

For more information on this research see: Motor and Cognitive Functional Status Are Associated with 30-day Unplanned Rehospitalization Following Post-Acute Care in Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2016;31(12):1427-1434. Journal of General Internal Medicine can be contacted at: Springer, 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Journal of General Internal Medicine - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1525-1497)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A. Middleton, Univ Texas Med Branch, Div Rehabil Sci, Galveston, TX 77555, United States. Additional authors for this research include J.E. Graham, Y.L. Lin, J.S. Goodwin, J.P. Bettger, A. Deutsch and K.J. Ottenbacher.

Keywords for this news article include: Galveston, Texas, United States, North and Central America, Medicare and Medicaid, Health Policy, Medicare, University of Texas Medical Branch.