Study Finds Reduced Readmissions Rates through Increased Relations with Skilled-Nursing Facilities

​Researchers reviewed data from 2009 to 2013 and conducted interviews with staff from 16 hospitals in an effort to determine the effect that a skilled-nursing facility (SNF) network can have on a hospital's readmission rates. Findings are published in the September 2017 Health Affairs. Researchers identified four out of the 16 hospitals to serve as a study cohort that had developed a formal network of SNFs. At the end of 2009, the cohort had discharged 27,000 patients, and one-third of these were discharged to a SNF, while the remaining two thirds were discharged home or to a home health program. The overall rehospitalization rates at these four hospitals decreased by 3.7 percentage points, from 17% in 2009 to 13.3% in 2013.