Reducing Hospital Readmission Rates with Nutrition

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A recent article on CNN, “New Large-Scale Study Will Look at How Nutrition Can Help Keep Patients from Returning to the Hospital,” discusses a new prospective study by Abbott Nutrition and Advocate Health Care that is going to research the effect nutrition has on hospital readmission rates for 3,000 adults. According to Tom Summerfelt, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Innovation (Advocate Health Care), Advocate Health Care, located in Illinois, is one of the largest health care systems in the Midwestern United States. Four hospitals are going to be used in the study; two hospitals will provide quick nutritional care, and the other two hospitals will provide nutritional care as is normally done. Upon admission at the quick nutritional care hospitals, patients are going to be nutritionally screened, and those assessed as high-risk will immediately receive a nutritional supplement. Furthermore, these patients will be given added education and receive a discharge plan and discharge follow-up phone calls. The readmission rates between the two sets of hospitals will then be compared.

Hospitals have been working diligently to reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates and the associated costs of readmission (Summerfelt, 2014). Additionally, reduced hospital readmission rates will result in better outcomes for patients (Summerfelt, 2014).

It will be interesting to see if any significance in readmission rates is found between the two sets of hospitals and the impact quick nutrition care has on patient outcomes. If positive results are found, this would certainly alter the way many registered dietitians in the clinical setting currently do their jobs.


CNN. (20, October 2014). New large-scale study will look at how nutrition can help keep patients from returning to the hospital. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQ41314.htm

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