jha.sciedupress.com Journal of Hospital Administration 2019, Vol. 8, No. 1 REVIEWS Interventions aimed at addressing unplanned hospital readmissions in the U.S.: A systematic review Alva O. Ferdinand 1 , Ohbet Cheon *2 , Abdulaziz T. Bako 3 , Bita A. Kash 1,2 1 Texas A&M University School of Public Health, United States 2 Houston Methodist Research Institute, United States 3 Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, United States Received: October 31, 2018 Accepted: December 2, 2018 Online Published: December 14, 2018 DOI: 10.5430/jha.v8n1p16 URL: https://doi.org/10.5430/jha.v8n1p16 ABSTRACT One of the policy mechanisms aimed at improving population health through health care delivery is the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) as outlined in the Affordable Care Act. Although numerous procedural and behavioral interventions have been implemented, the empirical evidence of the efficacy of these interventions is mixed and specific to certain patient segments. This review aimed to systematically assess studies of hospital interventions to reduce 30-day readmissions for specific diseases and populations. Following the PRISMA review checklist, searches were conducted from January 2000 to August 2018 in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases using terms such as “patient readmission”, “readmit” and “re-hospitalization” in conjunction with disease terms such as “asthma”, “chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)” and “pneumonia”. Of 3,806 articles identified, 45 were included after a 3-step inclusion process. The age group most frequently considered among the studies was the 65 age cohort. Multidisciplinary collaborative interventions were most frequently effective for the subset of elderly, female, Caucasian, and heart failure patients. Interventions involving patient or family education delivered before and after care were most effective for racial minority, elderly, COPD, and heart failure patients. Telephone follow-up, tele-homecare, and medication reconciliation were largely found to be successful in reducing readmissions. Major gaps exist in identifying successful interventions for reducing 30-day readmissions among patients who sought treatment for sepsis, stroke, and replacement of the hip or knee. Our findings indicate an opportunity for researchers to further study, and for healthcare organizations to implement, more well-informed interventional strategies to reduce readmissions. Key Words: Hospital readmission, Interventions, Population, Systematic review 1. I NTRODUCTION Unplanned hospital readmissions render implications for pop- ulation health, as they are generally thought of as indicators of substandard health care delivery quality, [1] and are often associated with adverse patient outcomes. [2] Moreover, un- planned readmissions occur at a great cost to private and public insurers in the U.S., with estimations in 2011 that Medicaid, private insurance, and Medicare paid 18%, 20%, and 58% of all readmission-associated costs in the U.S. re- spectively. [3] To address patient safety and quality concerns, and to empower more informed health care decision-making on the part of patients, the Centers for Medicare and Medi- caid Services (CMS) began publicly reporting 30-day read- mission rates for heart failure, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia in 2010. [4] In response to the economic burden of hospital readmissions, policymakers incorporated the es- * Correspondence: Ohbet Cheon; Email: ocheon@houstonmethodist.org; Address: Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6560 Fannin St. 1150, Houston TX 77030, United States. 16 ISSN 1927-6990 E-ISSN 1927-7008