"Hospital Readmission: A Reality for Many Seizure Patients" - Zeena Nackerdien
U.S. hospital readmissions were estimated to have cost $41.3 billion in 2011 alone. Value-based inpatient care necessities the development of a hospital framework to reduce costs and readmissions. There is a need to understand drivers for readmissions to achieve this goal; however, readmission rates were found to vary from 5 to 29 percent in past studies. Nathalie Jette, MD, professor of neurology, population health science and policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and colleagues, noted in an accompanying editorial that about 10 percent of people will experience a seizure during their lifetime, while the prevalence of epilepsy is close to one percent. Nearly 4 percent of total hospitalizations in the U.S. could be attributed to epilepsy/convulsions, which represented the fifth most common non-neonatal, non-maternal cause for admission in children. The 30-day readmission metric is currently being used as a value-based metric of care by the Medicare program.
— Nathalie Jette, MD, Professor, Neurology, Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai