Evaluation of Adult Patients Readmitted for Severe Sepsis/Septic Shock Under the BPCI Advanced Program

Bundled Payments for Care Improvement-Advanced Program (BPCI-A) is designed to pay a single payment covering services provided during an episode of care. Sepsis is associated with increased readmissions, mortality, and health care costs. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the BPCI program patients with sepsis who were readmitted within 90 days versus not readmitted. This was a retrospective cohort study including 271 (110 readmitted) patients enrolled in the BPCI program with Diagnostic-Related Grouping codes of septicemia or severe sepsis. Skin/soft tissue infection was the most common infection. There was a significant difference between the groups for resource needs at discharge including wound care (25.45% versus 11.18%; P = 0.002) and physical therapy (74.55% versus 57.14%; P = 0.004). Mortality was higher among readmissions, 43.64% versus 26.71% no readmission ( P = 0.004). Identifying risk factors for readmission, providing appropriate resources, and follow-up may contribute to improved patient outcomes for patients with sepsis enrolled in the BPCI program.