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Lack of test results increased OPAT readmission rates
Not getting recommended laboratory test results back in a timely fashion often leads to readmission for patients undergoing outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy, according to study data published online.
Nabin K. Shrestha, MD, MPH, of the department of infectious diseases at Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues reported on outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) data retrospectively obtained from electronic health records from all patients examined in January and February 2011.
The researchers said 400 patients were receiving OPAT during the study period, but test results were only available in 73% of the recommended cases.
Eighty-two patients were readmitted while on OPAT, and “in a multivariable logistic regression model, non-availability of recommended test results was independently associated with readmissions while on OPAT,” the researchers said.
Shrestha, who is also the quality review officer for the department of infectious diseases and director of the community-based parenteral anti-infective therapy program, and colleagues said their findings hold important implications for how hospitals can work more efficiently to reduce readmission rates as they relate to infectious disease patients.
Another recently published study that addressed six ways to reduce hospital readmissions as they relate to heart failure patients, concluded that assigning staff to contact patients about test results received after discharge was another way to reduce readmissions.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.