Researchers develop model to predict readmission risk from SNFs

A new model may let providers predict how likely it is for a skilled nursing facility post-surgical patient to be readmitted to the hospital. 

Cleveland Clinic researchers developed their model to assess the readmission risk of surgical patients discharged to a SNF. In a study of 2,405 surgical patients who were discharged to 110 SNFs, researchers found that 519 of them experienced readmission within 30 days. Length of hospital stay, number of hospitalizations and surgery riskiness were associated with all of those readmissions, the study found. 

Using those characteristics, the researchers were able to develop a model that can “accurately predict” a surgical patient’s risk of being readmitted into the hospital within 30 days. 

The findings were published in the September issue of the Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.