THURSDAY, September 9, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes are more likely to be re-hospitalized for those receiving late or late home health care, and racial / ethnic minority patients are less likely to receive benefits within 14 days. This is the result of two studies recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
Jamie M. Smith, RN, of the College of Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the association between the timing of home health care initiation and the results of a 30-day re-hospitalization in 786,734 Medicare beneficiaries after a diabetes-related treatment Index Hospital Admission in 2015; 26.6 percent were discharged into home nursing. The researchers found that patients who received late benefits or late benefits (three to seven days or eight to 14 days after discharge) had higher chances of getting one compared to those who received home health care within the recommended two days Had re-hospitalization (odds ratio 1.28 and 4.12). , respectively).
In a second study, Smith and colleagues examined the relationship between race / ethnicity and hospital discharge to home care and subsequent home care use in a cohort of 786,758 adults (≥50 years) with a diabetes-related hospitalization. The researchers found that when compared to white patients, Hispanic and Native American patients were significantly less likely to be discharged from hospital to home nursing in fully fitted models (odds ratios, 0.8 and 0.8, respectively). All non-white ethnic / ethnic minority patients were less likely to receive services within 14 days.
“Timely home health care can improve outcomes in older adults after hospital stays for diabetes, but we have found persistent racial / ethnic differences in who was referred to home health care and who received benefits in the critical first few days” , a co-author of both studies, said in a statement.
