Language-Serving Hospitals and Seven-Day Readmission Among Patients With a Non-English Primary Language

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Linguistic Health Equity

Background:

• Effective communication is crucial for patient outcomes.
• Limited English proficiency (LEP) poses challenges in healthcare delivery.
• Understanding hospital-level factors influencing readmission for LEP patients is vital.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare 7-day hospital readmission rates among patients with a non-English primary language.
• To evaluate differences between language-serving and non-language-serving hospitals.
• To assess the impact of hospital language services on patient readmissions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective cohort study utilizing the New Jersey State Inpatient Database (2010-2022).
• Inclusion of 578,030 inpatient discharges for patients with a non-English primary language.
• Generalized linear mixed models used to compare 7-day readmission rates between hospital types.

Main Results:

• Patients with a non-English primary language had significantly lower 7-day readmission rates in language-serving hospitals (4.8%) versus non-language-serving hospitals (9.8%).
• Adjusted odds ratio for readmission was 0.49 (95% CI: 0.25, 0.96) favoring language-serving hospitals.
• This protective effect was observed across Spanish, common, and rare non-English primary languages.

Conclusions:

• Discharge from language-serving hospitals is associated with reduced 7-day readmission for patients with a non-English primary language.
• Language access services within hospitals appear to mitigate readmission risks.
• Further research into specific hospital and state language access policies is warranted to improve care for LEP populations.