Does telemedicine have an impact on hospital readmissions? A study recently conducted by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine found an association between the two. The findings are summarized in a press release.
The researchers used a system called LACE+ to recognize patients who were more likely to experience readmission after being released from the hospital. They were then offered personalized care through the UC San Diego Health telemedicine clinic. According to UC San Diego, “LACE stands for length of stay, acuity of admission, comorbidity and emergency department visits, and considers certain factors such underlying health conditions, a patient’s age or sex and previous admissions.”
Furthermore, communication was provided to each patient’s primary health provider explaining the hospitalization and care guidelines. Physicians of high-risk readmission patients received priority calls. According to the study, patients who were cared for by the telemedicine clinic had a 5.2% less 30-day readmission rate than the other group.
