For-profit hospitals had higher 30-day nonelective acute myocardial infarction (AMI) readmission rates and patients treated at these facilities were more likely to experience renal and respiratory complications at readmission and nonhome discharge, according to a recent study published in JACC: Advances.

Preston Leung IV, MDiv, et al., included 4,636,970 nonelective AMI hospitalizations from the Nationwide Readmissions Database from 2013 to 2022, examining 30-day readmission rates and clinical outcomes in readmitted patients stratified by hospital financial structure.

Overall, 11.5% of patients were readmitted within 30 days. Of the patients readmitted to the same hospital, 16.6% were treated at for-profit institutions. Readmission rates decreased over time at not-for-profit hospitals (11.5% to 10.5%; p<0.001) but remained largely consistent at for-profit hospitals (13% to 12.7%; p=0.09). Reductions in readmissions at for-profit facilities were noted among Medicare beneficiaries and patients who underwent CABG.

For-profit facilities were associated with greater risk of 30-day readmission (adjusted OR [aOR], 1.15), respiratory and renal complications at readmission (aOR, 1.11 and 1.04, respectively), and nonhome discharge (aOR, 1.07).

"This national retrospective analysis identified persistent ownership-related differences in 30-day nonelective readmission rates and clinical outcomes following AMI," write the authors. "Not-for-profit hospitals demonstrated significant reductions in readmission rates across operative procedures and payer types over the study period. For-profit hospitals showed significant declines in readmission rates among CABG patients and Medicare beneficiaries, a pattern consistent with the payer-specific scope of [Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program] financial penalties."