Discharge destinations of Medicare patients receiving discharge planning: who goes where?

This study aims to increase knowledge about factors affecting discharge destinations of Medicare patients leaving the hospital after receiving discharge planning services. Medical, social, financial, and demographic factors are tested in relation to three dispositions: home, nursing home, and rehabilitation unit. Polytomous logistic regression was used to assess the likelihood of going to one destination versus another. For both nursing home versus home and rehabilitation unit versus home, destination was a function of first medical and then financial factors, with social resources playing a lesser role in the models. The only demographic variable with a significant relationship to destination was race, with black patients less likely to enter nursing home settings.