%0 Journal Article
%T Impact of Postdischarge Follow
%A Courtney Van Houtven
%A Mark Holmes
%A Mark Toles
%A Matthew Toth
%A Morris Weinberger
%A Pam Silberman
%J Medical Care Research and Review
%@ 1552-6801
%D 2018
%R 10.1177/1077558716687499
%X Reducing postdischarge Medicare expenditures is a key focus for hospitals. Early follow-up care is an important piece of this focus, but it is unclear whether there are rural¨Curban differences in the impact of follow-up care on Medicare expenditures. To assess this difference, we use the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, Cost and Use Files, 2000-2010. We conduct a retrospective analysis of 30-day postdischarge Medicare expenditures using two-stage residual inclusion with a quantile regression, where the receipt of 7-day follow-up care was the main independent variable. Postdischarge follow-up care increased the 25th percentile of 30-day expenditures, decreased the 75th percentile, and there were no rural¨Curban differences. Partial effects show postdischarge follow-up care resulted in higher 30-day expenditures among low-cost rural beneficiaries. Ensuring early follow-up care for high-cost beneficiaries may be advantageous to both rural and urban providers in helping reduce postdischarge Medicare expenditures
%K medicare
%K postdischarge
%K expenditures
%K rural
%K follow-up care
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077558716687499