Key result
Written information interventions cut hospital readmission costs by ~$2047 per HF patient versus control.
Why the study?
Does written information intervention reduce hospital readmission cost in patients with heart failure?
Meta-Analysis (n=754)
Does written information intervention reduce hospital readmission cost in patients with heart failure?
Providing written information to heart failure patients significantly reduces hospital readmission costs.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports written information provision in heart failure care to reduce readmission costs; confirms economic benefit in Level 1 meta-analysis.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of written information versus non written information intervention in reducing hospital readmission cost, if prescribed or presented to the patients with HF. METHODS: The study was a systematic review and meta-analysis. We searched Medline (Ovid) and Cochrane library during the past 20 years from 1993 to 2013. We also conducted a manual search through Google Scholar and a direct search in the group of related journals in Black Well and Science Direct trough their websites. Two reviewers appraised the identified studies, and meta-analysis was done to estimate the mean saving cost of patient readmission. All the included studies must have been done by randomization to be eligible for study. RESULT: We assessed the full-texts 3 out of 65 studies with 754 patients and average age of 74.33. The mean of estimated saving readmission cost in intervention group versus control group was US $2751 (95% CI: 2708 - 2794) and the mean of total saving cost in intervention group versus control group was US $2047 (base year 2010) with (95% CI: 2004 - 2089). No publication bias was found by testing the heterogeneity of studies. CONCLUSION: One of the effective factors in minimizing the healthcare cost and preventing from hospital re-admission is providing the patients with information prescription in a written format. It is suggested that hospital management, Medicare organizations, policy makers and individual physicians consider the prescription of appropriate medical information as the indispensable part of patient's care process.
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Gavgani et al. (2015) conducted a meta-analysis in Heart Failure (n=754). Written information intervention vs. Non-written information / usual care was evaluated on Total saving cost of hospital re-admission per patient (MD 2047, 95% CI 2004-2089, p=<0.001). Written information interventions provided to patients with heart failure significantly reduced total hospital readmission costs by an average of US $2047 per patient compared to control.
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