Early Postdischarge Primary Care Follow-up Reduces Hospital Readmissions in Pediatrics

A new study published in Clinical Pediatrics has found that focusing on timely visits with primary care clinicians following admission to the hospital can have a beneficial effect on readmission rates in pediatric patients. The study, conducted by a team of researchers from Children's Hospital, aimed to evaluate the relationship between early postdischarge primary care follow-up and 7-day and 30-day hospital readmissions.

Key Takeaways:

• The study included 20,066 hospital discharges from a tertiary care, free-standing pediatric hospital between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2022.
• The regression models indicate that there were statistically significant reductions in both 7-day and 30-day readmissions for the group that successfully completed the follow-up primary care clinician appointment vs the group that did not (0.8% vs 1.9% for 7-day and 5.4% vs 7.0% for 30-day).
• The study found that focusing on timely visits with primary care clinicians following admission to the hospital may have a beneficial effect on readmission rates at 7 and 30 days, respectively.
• The study's results suggest that early postdischarge primary care follow-up is associated with a reduction in hospital readmissions in pediatric patients.
• The researchers controlled for demographics, proxies of social determinants of health, and severity of illness in their logistic regression models.

Statistics:

• 20,066 hospital discharges qualified for the study.
• 0.8% of patients who completed their scheduled postdischarge appointment were readmitted within 7 days, compared to 1.9% of patients who did not complete their appointment.
• 5.4% of patients who completed their scheduled postdischarge appointment were readmitted within 30 days, compared to 7.0% of patients who did not complete their appointment.
• The regression models indicate that timely visits with primary care clinicians following admission to the hospital can reduce readmission rates by 0.9% at 7 days and 1.6% at 30 days.

Sources:

• NewsRx. New Findings from Children's Hospital Describe Advances in Pediatrics (Postdischarge Pediatric Primary Care "connectivity" and 7-day and 30-day Readmission Rates). Health & Medicine Week. June 13, 2025; p 457.
• "Postdischarge Pediatric Primary Care 'connectivity' and 7-day and 30-day Readmission Rates." Clinical Pediatrics, 2025.