Community socioeconomic disadvantage drives type of 30-day medical-surgical revisits among patients with serious mental illness

Abstract

Abstract Background Patients with serious mental illness (SMI) are vulnerable to medical-surgical readmissions and emergency department visits. Methods We studied 1,914,619 patients with SMI discharged after medical-surgical admissions in Florida and New York between 2012 and 2015 and their revisits to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. Results Patients with SMI from the most disadvantaged communities had greater adjusted 30-day revisit rates than patients from less disadvantaged communities. Among those that experienced a revisit, patients from the most disadvantaged communities had 7.3 % greater 30-day observation stay revisits. Conclusions These results suggest that additional investments are needed to ensure that patients with SMI from the most disadvantaged communities are receiving appropriate post-discharge care.

Keywords

• Revisits
• Readmissions
• Observation stays
• Socioeconomic disadvantage
• Mental illness