Patient Discharge against Medical Advice after Coronary Intervention Doubles Risk of Readmission

Discharge against medical advice after a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedure is strongly associated with a patient's hospital readmission within 30 days, according to a study published in the July 2018 edition of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions. Researchers analyzed data on more than 2 million patients in the Nationwide Readmission Database between 2010 and 2014 who had received PCI and who were then either discharged home or left the hospital against medical advice. Researchers found that about 0.5% of all patients reviewed were discharged against medical advice after PCI, and of those patients, nearly 17% were readmitted into the hospital within 30 days, while just 8.5% of patients who were discharged home had such readmissions.