Effect of hospital referral networks on patient readmissions

Social Science & Medicine
Daniele MasciaFausto Di Vincenzo

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that referral networks encompass important mechanisms of coordination and integration among hospitals, which enhance numerous organizational-level benefits, such as productivity, efficiency, and quality of care. The present study advances previous research by demonstrating how hospital referral networks influence patient readmissions. Data include 360,697 hospitalization events within a regional community of hospitals in the Italian National Health Service. Multilevel hierarchical regression analysis tests the impacts of referral networks' structural characteristics on patient hospital readmissions. The results demonstrate that organizational centrality in the overall referral network and ego-network density have opposing effects on the likelihood of readmission events within hospitals; greater centrality is negatively associated with readmissions, whereas greater ego-network density increases the likelihood of readmission events. Our findings support the (re)organization of healthcare systems and provide important indications for policymakers and practitioners.

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Citations

Jul 18, 2018·Translational Behavioral Medicine·Eva H DuGoffCraig Evan Pollack
Oct 13, 2017·Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA·Jason Cory Brunson, Reinhard C Laubenbacher
Jan 14, 2020·Journal of Interprofessional Care·Pablo NicaiseVincent Lorant
May 10, 2018·BMC Health Services Research·Fausto Di Vincenzo
Jul 16, 2019·NPJ Digital Medicine·Jonathan M ClarkeAra W Darzi
Aug 11, 2018·International Journal of Integrated Care·Kasper RausKristof Eeckloo
Nov 13, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Donald Ruggiero Lo SardoPeter Klimek
Mar 28, 2017·Administration and Policy in Mental Health·Vincent LorantUNKNOWN Title107 Study Group
Dec 10, 2020·Health Services Management Research : an Official Journal of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration·Wouter van der SchorsMarco Varkevisser

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