3 ms·
Couldn't this finding be explained by the fact that the hospitals with lower readmissions tend to be poorer (since poorer patients are less likely to be able to
by obastani 9y ago
Couldn't this finding be explained by the fact that the hospitals with lower readmissions tend to be poorer (since poorer patients are less likely to be able to afford care)? I only took a quick look, but I didn't see how the paper accounts for this and other possible causality issues. On the other hand, it's certainly plausible to me that lower readmissions can cause higher mortality.
- joshgel 9y agoSure. Or those hospitals gamed the system and didn't admit patients who should have been admitted. Or plenty of other explanations... We call readmissions rate a Surrogate Marker. Something that isn't a hard outcome that we care about (that much), but rather an indicator of quality. We need surrogates to assess quality because hard outcomes are rarer. But this paper makes us think that maybe we need better markers.
- slsii 9y agoDo you have recommendations for any books or other resources that cover topics on healthcare quality measures? This is the first time I’ve heard of surrogate markers. I’ve been searching around for more info on the concept you’ve described but didn’t have a term for it.