Table 3.

Estimated Cost Savings as a Result of the Hospital Discharge Call Campaign

Number of called members who were readmitted	420
Multiplied by the odds of readmission if not called	× 1.26
Estimated number of readmissions if not called	529
Minus the actual number of readmissions in intervention group	−420
Estimated increase in readmissions if not called	109
Multiplied by the estimated cost per preventable readmission in 2008*	× $12,824
Estimated savings in study population as a result of discharge call campaign	$1,397,840

^*The cost per preventable readmission was based on work by Friedman and Basu and was adjusted to reflect nationwide trends and for inflation.^11,24