Many people return to hospital after being discharged

  

January 23, 2013 (WLS) -- It's apparently a problem that is all too common in the U.S.

People are discharged from the hospital and return again after only a few short days.

In fact new reports find one in five people who have been hospitalized may end up back in the hospital, either in the ER or as an inpatient, within the next 30 days.

Another study found that readmission rates for specific conditions such as heart failure, heart attack and pneumonia were as high as 25-percent within a month.

According to experts, it's a complex, system-wide problem that shows the system for care is not integrated enough.

It's not a measure of the hospital or your primary care physician, they said.

Both studies were published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

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