More than one in five Medicare patients who have observation stays in the hospital return to that hospital within 30 days, according to a new study published in The BMJ.

Among those returning to the hospital, 8.4 percent return to the emergency room, 2.9 percent have another observation stay visit, and 11.2 percent are admitted to the hospital.  Another 1.8 percent pass away within 30 days.

The numbers are similar for Medicare patients who only visit the emergency room.

Learn more about the study’s findings and its implications for improving post-discharge care in The BMJ article “Outcomes after observation stays among older adult Medicare beneficiaries in the USA: retrospective cohort study,” which can be found here.