Is 30-days the right interval for your organization to be measuring readmissions? 30-day risk-standardized, all-cause, unplanned readmission rates is widely used to measure hospital penalties. Yet, many question if this is the correct interval by condition.
- For both 7-day and 30-day readmissions, the rate of readmission was highest among patients with Medicare, followed by patients with Medicaid, no insurance, and private insurance.
- Among Medicaid patients who were discharged with congestive heart failure or schizophrenia at the index stay, nearly 1 in 10 stays resulted in readmission within 7 days.
- Among patients readmitted within 30 days of an index stay for septicemia or schizophrenia, uninsured patients were more likely than patients with insurance to return within 7 days.
•  In 2014, 14 percent of inpatient stays were readmitted within 30 days. More than one-third of these readmissions occurred within 7 days, reflecting a 7-day readmission rate of 5 percent.
Top 5 principal diagnoses with the highest 7-day and 30-day readmission rates, 2014 |
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| Principal diagnosis at the index stay | Index stays | Â Â 7-day readmissions | Â Â 30-day readmissions | ||
| Rank | Ratea | Rank | Ratea | ||
| Total inpatient stays | 27,698,101 | – | 5.0 | – | 13.9 |
| Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders | 374,097 | 1 | 9.0 | 2 | 22.9 |
| Alcohol-related disorders | 340,076 | 2 | 7.5 | 4 | 21.5 |
| Congestive heart failure; non-hypertensive | 795,709 | 3 | 7.4 | 1 | 23.2 |
| Heart valve disorders | 117,788 | 4 | 7.3 | 14 | 18.4 |
| Hypertension with complications, secondary hypertension | 223,396 | 5 | 7.2 | 6 | 20.9 |
a Rate per 100 index inpatient stays
Source: AHRQ
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Lisa Remington is president and publisher of the Remington Report magazine and President of Remington’s Home Care Leadership Think Tank. She has worked with more than 10,000 organizations in both a consultancy role and an educator. Lisa monitors the complex key trends and forces of change to develop a correct strategic approach to de-risk decision-making and create sustainable futures across the healthcare continuum.
