How Can We Improve to Keep Our Patients out of the Hospital?

Many patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) endure a hospital admission during the course of their disease, and there is a portion of patients who are readmitted not infrequently. Time spent in the hospital puts not only a large burden on patients but also accounts for substantial health care costs in the United States. Studies to date evaluating causes for readmission have largely been retrospective and have identified several important risk factors increasing readmission rates, including psychiatric comorbidity, use of steroids, failure to begin biologic therapy, and concomitant infections such as Clostridium difficile. In this review, we explore the risk factors for readmissions in patients with IBD and how we may be able to address these issues moving forward to reduce the burden of hospitalization for this population.