%0 Journal Article
%T Provider Connectedness to Other Providers Reduces Risk of Readmission After Hospitalization for Heart Failure
%A Alon Geva
%A Chunfu Liu
%A Karen L. Olson
%A Kenneth D. Mandl
%J Medical Care Research and Review
%@ 1552-6801
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1077558717718626
%X Provider interactions other than explicit care coordination, which is challenging to measure, may influence practice and outcomes. We performed a network analysis using claims data from a commercial payor. Networks were identified based on provider pairs billing outpatient care for the same patient. We compared network variables among patients who had and did not have a 30-day readmission after hospitalization for heart failure. After adjusting for comorbidities, high median provider connectedness¡ªnormalized degree, which for each provider is the number of connections to other providers normalized to the number of providers in the region¡ªwas the network variable associated with reduced odds of readmission after heart failure hospitalization (odds ratio = 0.55; 95% confidence interval [0.35, 0.86]). We conclude that heart failure patients with high provider connectedness are less likely to require readmission. The structure and importance of provider relationships using claims data merits further study
%K patient care constellation
%K patient readmission
%K practice patterns
%K physicians
%K heart failure
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077558717718626