Abstract
Background: Per national guidelines, early follow-up appointments should be scheduled before discharge, but in previous research, appointments scheduled before discharge were not associated with appointment adherence.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether patient, heart failure (HF), and hospital factors were associated with predischarge appointment scheduling.
Methods: A secondary analysis of a medical record review included patients hospitalized for decompensated HF at 3 health system hospitals who had a scheduled office appointment post discharge at 14 days or less. Patient demographics, and social, HF, and hospital factors were studied for association with predischarge scheduling.
Results: In multivariable modeling, the odds of having an appointment scheduled predischarge were based on 3 factors: nonwhite race, history of chronic renal insufficiency, and no admission within 14 days before HF hospitalization.
Conclusions: Appointment scheduling may be based on provider perceptions of readmission risk. Follow-up appointment scheduling practices should be based on systematic processes.