Discharge to Postacute Care Can Be Benchmark Metric for Older Surgical Patients
THURSDAY, Sept. 4, 2025 -- Discharge to postacute care for older adult surgical patients can be used as a benchmarking metric for hospitals, according to a study published online Aug. 14 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Sarah L. Remer, M.D., from the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, and colleagues examined whether discharge to postacute care can be used as a benchmarking metric in care for older adults. The analysis included data from 494 hospitals (277,160 surgical patients aged 65 years and older) in 2023.
The researchers found that 11.2 percent of patients were discharged to postacute care. Approximately one-fourth of hospitals (22.5 percent) received an "exemplary" rating, and 25.5 percent received a "needs improvement" rating. Similar results were seen when only the 25 percent of highest-risk patients were evaluated, after exclusion of patients with prior major morbidity, and when international and U.S. Department of Defense hospitals were included. Risk factors included American Society of Anesthesiologists IV/IV classification (odds ratio, 2.50) and inpatient surgery (odds ratio, 6.20).
"Research has demonstrated that there are interventions that can mitigate some unnecessary discharge to postacute care facilities, such as screening patients at highest risk for poor outcomes, including discharge to postacute care, and then utilizing those screenings to focus interventions on those high-risk patients, such as prehabilitation or more targeted physical therapy during the perioperative period," Remer said in a statement.
One author disclosed receiving payment from Healthgrades.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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