One out of every 10 people who get a stent inserted to open up blocked arteries ends up back in the hospital within 30 days, suggests a new study that also found the readmitted patients are more likely to die in the next year. Readmission rates are now publicly reported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and are one performance measure used to determine how well a hospital is doing at treating its heart patients. The study suggests that at least some of the factors related to a patient's chance of going back to the hospital, including the severity of the diseases they had to begin with, cannot necessarily be changed by better care.
