One in Six New Yorkers Who Receive Stents End Up Back in Hospital

A few days ago I posted about overstenting and how it really contributes to the high costs of health care.  Today, a new study came out finding that one in six New Yorkers who receive a stent end up back in the hospital within 30 days.  This is up from another study last month of a single Minnesota hospital which had a one in ten readmission rate.
            This suggests that the stenting might not have been just the cure, but a bandage to the problem.  Therefore, hospitals are not effectively treating the problem the first time.  In fact, some experts even believe that if patients are more thoroughly evaluated the first time, this would significantly help to cut the high costs of health care.  That a lot of the health care system costs are used up in hospital readmissions in general, coupled with the many cases, settlements, lawsuits, and allegations of overstenting, this is an area that needs to be improved.
            The study found that the highest risk group for rehospitalization were individuals who were elderly, female, have underlying diseases (like diabetes, kidney failure), and those individuals who had a longer or more complicated original procedure.  Some experts acknowledged that some of the factors could not be changed like age or gender, however, other treatment plans could be made or modified to help reduce the rate of rehospitalizations.  For example, patients could stay in the hospital for the original procedure longer or have more aggressive aftercare treatment.  However, for the five out of six who do not come back to the hospital, does keeping them in the hospital for a few extra days and providing more aftercare outweigh the burden of that one patient who has to come back to the hospital?
            But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@mmolaw.net.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.