Read this article from The Journal of the American Medical Association to review the study results of discharged heart failure patients and their short-term outcomes.

In this large observational study, we found that during a 14-year period of reduction in hospital length of stay and increased use of skilled nursing facilities after discharge for Medicare patients with HF, 30-day mortality decreased but posthospital readmission and mortality risk increased. From the patient perspective, it is not clear that care in 2006 was markedly better than it was in 1993. The outcome of patients hospitalized for HF measured by short-term mortality has improved, which may be a result of better quality of care. However, because length of stay has substantially decreased, improvement is less than what might be suggested by in-hospital mortality. In contrast with that improvement, rates of readmission and discharge to skilled nursing facilities have increased, suggesting that patient outcomes, although better, have not improved in all areas.

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