1st Admission Depression & Dehydration Linked To Readmits

The link between depression and dehydration is real and it appears there are either gaps in hospital discharge communications with families and physicians, or gaps in what caregivers and families are able to provide in helping their family. 

Out of 53,000 readmissions to hospitals among Medicare patients (2010-2013), more than 7,500 of them had previously been admitted to the hospital just 14 days before for a behavioral or depression-oriented reason, diagnosed in the hospital as ‘altered mental status’ or ‘depressive disorder’; dementia was the third most common ‘prior’ admission reason. Depression is often a cause for dehydration and falls in the home in the Medicare population. Efforts are being made in a lot of communities to improve transitions for patients and link families to resources and improve the payment for these services, but there are clearly still gaps.