Doctor Nancy Van Vessem, M.D. is the chief medical officer at Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee. She identified some issues that may lead to a person being readmitted to a hospital within 30 days of his or her last stay.

She said patient education is key. Patients need to understand what they should do to manage their health condition. Coordination of care between hospital staff and medical staff outside of the hospital also plays an important roll.

When asked what we can do to reduce our chances of rehospitalization, Dr. Van Vessem said most hospitals will give patients information on discharge such as how medications were changed and how to better care for the medical condition at home.

For example, a person with congestive heart failure might be told to weigh themselves everyday and report any increase in weight to their physician and what foods to avoid to reduce fluid retention. Dr. Van Vessem says it's important to follow those instructions and to take that information to the physician who will be treating you in the outpatient setting.

One problem Dr. Van Vessem says she and other physicians see is that patients do not always fill the new prescriptions they get as they leave the hospital because they want to run the changes by their usual physician. However, if they don’t get into see their regular physician quickly, they may end up back in the hospital because they aren’t on the correct type or dose of medication for their new clinical status.

She says having an office visit and taking in hospital discharge information to your physician should be done within a week of discharge from the hospital. If possible, schedule the outpatient visit while you are still in the hospital and tell the physician’s office the purpose of the visit is hospital follow-up.

While medical advances have grown by leaps and bounds, much of the information is still in paper form, which is why it is given to the patient to take to their private physicians instead of being sent right to the attending physician. In the future, more electronic connectivity for this type of information is planned which should help, but it will always be important for patients to take a proactive role in their own health.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal Article, many lawmakers want to crack down on care providers who don't keep their readmissions in line. The House of Representatives' health-overhaul bill calls for cutting Medicare reimbursement to hospitals that have high readmission rates for heart attack, pneumonia and heart failure.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget would penalize hospitals in the highest quartile of readmission rates for certain conditions. The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to release a health bill soon, has called for similar penalties.