Effectiveness of a community-based integrated care ward (CICW) on 90-day readmission among the elderly people: a retrospective cohort study of a rural area in Japan

Objective: Community-based integrated care wards (CICW) play a role in supporting the return of patients to their homes. However, studies investigating the readmission risk associated with CICW are lacking. To investigate the influence of CICW on readmission, we conducted a retrospective cohort study among Japanese elderly people. Materials and Methods: This study used data from the Diagnosis Procedure Combination (DPC) and medical records of the Hamada Medical Center, Shimane Prefecture in 2014–2019. The number of subjects and readmission in each hospitalization case (general ward only [GW] and CICW) were 1,521 and 416 subjects and 152 and 49 cases, respectively. We selected the hospitalization cases for heart failure (I30–I52), ischemic heart disease (I20–I25), pneumonia (J09–J18), chronic lower respiratory tract diseases (J40–J47), intestinal diseases (K55–K64), cerebrovascular disease (I60–I69), gallbladder, bile duct, and pancreatic diseases (K80–K87) from the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for readmission via a CICW were estimated using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The HRs for readmission associated with CICW were not different between the shorter and longer durations, considering the percentage of CICW stay. Compared with GW cases, the HR of CICW cases was 0.40 (95% CI, 0.17–0.92) in coordination with outside agencies of hospital discharge support. While the HR of GW cases was 2.35 (95% CI 1.01–5.47), a significantly increased risk was observed in people living alone. A similar risk was not observed in CICW cases with the HR of 0.56 (95% CI 0.15–2.07). Conclusion: The present study observed decreased risk of readmission among the patients discharged from CICW, compared to GW. Further research is required to clarify the causal factors for this decreased risk.