This is a fairly recent article discussing the association between occupational therapy services and decreased hospital readmission, specifically for diagnoses of heart failure, pneumonia, and myocardial infarction. I love it! It’s articles like these that renew my sense of purpose for the future of OT-not that I don’t have any! But it’s nice to have a bit of validation every so often 🙂

Abstract:

Hospital executives are under continual pressure to control spending and improve quality. While prior studies have focused on the relationship between overall hospital spending and quality, the relationship between spending on specific services and quality has received minimal attention. The literature thus provides executives limited guidance regarding how they should allocate scarce resources. Using Medicare claims and cost report data, we examined the association between hospital spending for specific services and 30-day readmission rates for heart failure, pneumonia, and acute myocardial infarction. We found that occupational therapy is the only spending category where additional spending has a statistically significant association with lower readmission rates for all three medical conditions. One possible explanation is that occupational therapy places a unique and immediate focus on patients’ functional and social needs, which can be important drivers of readmission if left unaddressed.

Six intervention areas are pointed out by the researchers:

1. Recommendations and caregiver training for patient safety upon discharge
2. OTs assess severity of disability and its impact upon an individual’s ability to function independently
3. Provide/suggest accommodations, modifications, compensatory strategies, etc that can be made to address patient safety and independence upon discharge
4. Perform home safety assessments
5. Assess cognition and ability to perform important IADLs, such as medication management
6. Collaborate with PT to intensify rehabilitation, thereby promoting positive patient outcomes

Rogers, A. T., Bai, G., Lavin, R. A., & Anderson, G. F. (2016, September 2). Higher hospital spending on occupational therapy is associated with lower readmission rates. Medical Care Research and Review, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077558716666981