Effect of discharge conference on rehospitalization among older patients: An analysis of administrative claims data in Japan

Abstract Background The policy of discharge conference has function of guiding patients to stay at community. This study aims to investigate the effect of a discharge conference on a probability of hospital readmission and readmission costs among older patients in Japan. Methods We included 8,096 individuals admitted to acute care hospitals, using health and long-term care insurance claims data on older patients (age ≥ 75 years) in a suburban city in Japan, from April 2012 to September 2013. To balance the two groups according to whether a patient received a service of discharge conference or not, we used propensity score matching method. We identified readmission within 360 days from discharges and estimated the impact of a discharge conference on the probability of readmission and readmission costs using multiple logistic and linear regression model. Results Among patients who discharged from an acute care hospital, 367 (4.5%) received a discharge conference. Using the matching method, 304 participants in a control group was matched to 304 participants in a discharge conference group. Readmission rate was 21.1% in patients with a discharge conference and 23.0% in those without a discharge conference. Although there was no significant effect of discharge conference on probability of readmission, but it showed significant effect on lower cost per day. Conclusions These results imply a discharge conference has effect on mitigating cost per day of readmission after adjusting for confounding. This study suggests that there are potential possibilities in the policy of discharge conference on reducing the readmission costs per day amongst older patients.