A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics

Abstract Background Recent US legislation imposes financial penalties on hospitals with excessive patient readmissions. Predictive analytics for hospital readmissions have seen an increase in research due to the passage of this legislation. However, many current systems ignore the formulas used by t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Christopher Baechle, Ankur Agarwal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2017-11-01
Series:Journal of Big Data
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40537-017-0098-z
_version_ 1819074441648275456
author Christopher Baechle
Ankur Agarwal
author_facet Christopher Baechle
Ankur Agarwal
author_sort Christopher Baechle
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Background Recent US legislation imposes financial penalties on hospitals with excessive patient readmissions. Predictive analytics for hospital readmissions have seen an increase in research due to the passage of this legislation. However, many current systems ignore the formulas used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for imposing penalties. This research expands upon current methodologies and directly incorporates federal penalization formulas when selecting patients for which to dedicate resources. Methods Hospital discharge summaries are structured using clinical natural language processing techniques. Naïve Bayes classifiers are then used to assign a probability of readmission to each patient. Hospital Readmission Reductions Program formulas and probability of readmission are applied using four readmission scenarios to estimate the cost of readmission. The highest cost patients are identified and readmission mitigation efforts are attempted. Results The results show that the average penalty savings over currently employed binary classification to be 51.93%. Binary classification is also shown to select more patients than necessary for readmission intervention. Additionally, intervening in only high-risk patients saved an average of 90.07% compared to providing all patients with costly aftercare. Conclusion Focusing resources toward the potentially most expensive patients offers considerably better results than unfocused efforts. Utilizing direct calculation to estimate readmission costs has shown to be a more efficient use of resources than current readmission reduction methods.
first_indexed 2024-12-21T18:09:34Z
format Article
id doaj.art-7b46d67509624bb0aa0677f4d89e446b
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2196-1115
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-21T18:09:34Z
publishDate 2017-11-01
publisher SpringerOpen
record_format Article
series Journal of Big Data
spelling doaj.art-7b46d67509624bb0aa0677f4d89e446b2022-12-21T18:54:49ZengSpringerOpenJournal of Big Data2196-11152017-11-014111510.1186/s40537-017-0098-zA framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analyticsChristopher Baechle0Ankur Agarwal1Department of Computer & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering, Florida Atlantic UniversityDepartment of Computer & Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering, Florida Atlantic UniversityAbstract Background Recent US legislation imposes financial penalties on hospitals with excessive patient readmissions. Predictive analytics for hospital readmissions have seen an increase in research due to the passage of this legislation. However, many current systems ignore the formulas used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for imposing penalties. This research expands upon current methodologies and directly incorporates federal penalization formulas when selecting patients for which to dedicate resources. Methods Hospital discharge summaries are structured using clinical natural language processing techniques. Naïve Bayes classifiers are then used to assign a probability of readmission to each patient. Hospital Readmission Reductions Program formulas and probability of readmission are applied using four readmission scenarios to estimate the cost of readmission. The highest cost patients are identified and readmission mitigation efforts are attempted. Results The results show that the average penalty savings over currently employed binary classification to be 51.93%. Binary classification is also shown to select more patients than necessary for readmission intervention. Additionally, intervening in only high-risk patients saved an average of 90.07% compared to providing all patients with costly aftercare. Conclusion Focusing resources toward the potentially most expensive patients offers considerably better results than unfocused efforts. Utilizing direct calculation to estimate readmission costs has shown to be a more efficient use of resources than current readmission reduction methods.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40537-017-0098-zScientific algorithms of big dataBig data applicationsBig data toolsNatural language processingNaïve Bayes classification
spellingShingle Christopher Baechle
Ankur Agarwal
A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
Journal of Big Data
Scientific algorithms of big data
Big data applications
Big data tools
Natural language processing
Naïve Bayes classification
title A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
title_full A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
title_fullStr A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
title_full_unstemmed A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
title_short A framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
title_sort framework for the estimation and reduction of hospital readmission penalties using predictive analytics
topic Scientific algorithms of big data
Big data applications
Big data tools
Natural language processing
Naïve Bayes classification
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40537-017-0098-z
work_keys_str_mv AT christopherbaechle aframeworkfortheestimationandreductionofhospitalreadmissionpenaltiesusingpredictiveanalytics
AT ankuragarwal aframeworkfortheestimationandreductionofhospitalreadmissionpenaltiesusingpredictiveanalytics
AT christopherbaechle frameworkfortheestimationandreductionofhospitalreadmissionpenaltiesusingpredictiveanalytics
AT ankuragarwal frameworkfortheestimationandreductionofhospitalreadmissionpenaltiesusingpredictiveanalytics