Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Postdischarge follow-up appointments are widely thought to improve the safety of transition for patients moving from the hospital to home. They provide an opportunity for outpatient primary care providers to detect problems or failures of postdischarge care. Readmissions can be used to reflect the quality of postdischarge or transitional care. This study evaluated whether patients with an outpatient follow-up appointment scheduled with their primary care provider within five calendar days of discharge had fewer 30-day readmissions than those patients who had appointments scheduled six days or longer from discharge. No difference in readmission rate was detected between the two groups.