CDC: 1 in 11 COVID-19 Inpatients Experience a Hospital Readmission

With the number of positive COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in the US, providers should prepare for the potential for at least 9 percent of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 to experience a hospital readmission shortly after discharge, the CDC’s COVID-19 Response Team recently reported.

The Response Team’s advice is based on a study of 126,137 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 between March and July 2020, including 106,543 patients who were discharged from the index admission.

Of the patients discharged, 9,504 patients (9 percent) were readmitted, including 1,667 patients (1.6 percent) who were readmitted more than once.

Older COVID-19 patients and those with chronic conditions were more likely to be readmitted to the same hospital during the period. The odds of hospital readmission also increased if the patient was hospitalized within the three months preceding the index hospitalization and if they were discharged to a skilled nursing facility or to home with healthcare assistance, the study also revealed.

Additionally, less than 0.1 percent of patients died during a hospital readmission and the median interval from discharge to first readmission was 8 days.

The findings are based on data from the Premier Healthcare Database, which includes discharge records from 865 non-governmental, community, and teaching hospitals that contributed inpatient data during the study period. Readmissions were only recorded if a patient returned to the same hospital where the index hospitalization occurred.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise nationwide, the study’s findings have implications on hospital planning during the pandemic, the CDC’s COVID-19 Response Team said in the study.

Information on the frequency of, and risk factors for, readmission can inform clinical practice and discharge disposition decisions especially with regard to the acuity and location of ongoing care needed for persons who might appear stable at discharge,” the Team wrote. “Further, addressing priorities such as health care planning to ensure adequate health care resources for acute and post-acute follow-up care of COVID-19 patients is critical at a local, regional, and national level.”

Hospital resources are already stretched thin as providers continue to fight the virus. Tens of thousands of new cases are being reported daily across the nation and just recently, the US surpassed over 10 million confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins data at the time of this article’s publication.

The number of COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient also remains high, with over 59,200 individuals currently or now hospitalized because of the virus, The COVID-19 Tracking Project reported yesterday. In total, nearly 497,000 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized.

With cases on the rise, some hospitals are already reaching bed capacity – and in some cases reaching capacity, again. Some states, including Utah, have also recently warned the public that sharply increasing COVID-19 cases are on track to strain hospitals beyond their capacity.

The surge in hospitalizations – and now hospital readmissions – also means hospitals could max out other resources, including drugs and supplies and even their own workforce.

Hospital leaders need to prepare for a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and readmissions considering COVID-19 hotspots are now generally not confined to specific areas of the country.

The CDC recommends that healthcare facilities prepare by staying abreast of COVID-19 updates in their communities and reviewing the facility’s emergency plan to ensure staff are available when needed. Facilities should also forge relationships with key healthcare and public health partners in the community to manage patients, transfers, and supplies, the agency says.