Primary and secondary outcomes, by gender
| Men | Women | p Value | |
| Primary outcomes ≤30 days after index hospitalisation | |||
| Patients, n | 367 | 370 | |
| Hospital utilisations, n (visits/patient/mo)* | 174 (0.474) | 108 (0.292) | <0.01 |
| IRR (95% CI) | 1.62 (1.28 to 2.06) | REF | |
| Emergency department visits, n (visits/patient/mo) | 101 (0.275) | 50 (0.135) | <0.01 |
| IRR (95% CI) | 2.04 (1.45 to 2.86) | REF | |
| Readmissions, n (visits/patient/mo) | 73 (0.199) | 58 (0.157) | 0.09 |
| IRR (95% CI) | 1.27 (0.90 to 1.79) | REF | |
| Secondary outcomes† | |||
| Patients reached for 30-day follow-up call, n (%) | 292 (80) | 322 (87) | <0.01 |
| Able to identify PCP name, n (%) | 224 (77) | 284 (88) | <0.01 |
| PCP appt scheduled prior to discharge, n (%) | 223 (60) | 230 (63) | 0.41 |
| Visited PCP, n (%) | 142 (49) | 183 (57) | 0.04 |
| Visited specialist, n (%) | 81 (28) | 105 (33) | 0.19 |
| Able to identify discharge diagnosis, n (%) | 212 (73) | 247 (77) | 0.24 |
| How well did you understand your appointments after you left the hospital?‡ (those reporting understood well or very well) | 210 (78%) | 263 (87%) | <0.01 |
| How well did you understand how to take your medications after leaving the hospital? (those reporting understood well or very well) | 227 (84%) | 270 (88%) | 0.12 |
| How well did you understand your main problem or diagnosis when you left the hospital? (those reporting understood well or very well) | 175 (62%) | 190 (61%) | 0.65 |
| How prepared were you to leave the hospital? (those reporting well prepared or very well) | 175 (62%) | 185 (59%) | 0.40 |
↵* Defined as sum of emergency department (ED) visits plus rehospitalisations. Note: An ED visit that leads to a rehospitalisation is counted only as a rehospitalisation.
↵† Denominators reflect those subjects reached at 30-day follow-up phone call and those that answered question.
↵‡ Questions asked on a 5-point Likert scale; Per cent reflects subjects who responded with either of the top two categories on the scale (ie, ‘very prepared’ or ‘prepared’).
IRR, incidence rate ratios.