NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Rapid anemia management (RAM) for patients with end-stage renal disease within seven days of hospital discharge decreases their rate of readmission, according to findings presented at the National Kidney Foundation 2012 Spring Clinical Meetings.
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Rebecca Wingard, RN, MSN, and colleagues at Fresenius Medical Care North America, examined the impact of rapid anemia management on 30-day readmission rates for hemodialysis patients. The investigators identified 3,689 hospital admissions among patients at 45 dialysis clinics from October 2009 to June 2011.
Of these admissions, 2,427 received RAM consisting of blood draws to measure Hb on the first or second dialysis treatment after hospital discharge, followed by erythropoiesis-stimulating drug dose adjustment and administration by the third treatment per each clinic’s algorithm. The researchers compared results with two control groups in the same clinics that did not receive RAM. Control group 1 included all readmissions whereas control group 2 excluded patients who had a prior hospitalization within 30 days of the index hospitalization.
The 30-day readmission rate was 28.3% for RAM patients compared with 43.8% for patients on control group 1 and 31.3% in control group 2.
