Medicare Blog

what are the national 2016 medicare readmission rates

by Peter Fadel MD Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
image

The 30-day all-cause readmission rate among patients with stays billed to Medicare decreased 7 percent between 2010 and 2016, from 18.3 per 100 index admissions in 2010 to 17.1 per 100 index admissions in 2016.

From 2010 to 2016, the readmission rate decreased 7 percent for Medicare patients (from 18.3 to 17.1 per 100 index admissions) and increased 14 percent for uninsured patients (from 10.4 to 11.8 per 100 index admissions). Medicaid and privately insured patients had relatively stable readmission rates.Feb 6, 2019

Full Answer

What is the 30-day all-cause readmission rate for Medicare patients?

The 30-day all-cause readmission rate among patients with stays billed to Medicare decreased 7 percent between 2010 and 2016, from 18.3 per 100 index admissions in 2010 to 17.1 per 100 index admissions in 2016.

Are hospital readmissions increasing among payers?

Across payers, the number of readmissions increased only among Medicaid, non-maternal patients aged 21-44 and 45-64 years (14.5 and 14.0 percent increases, respectively). However, the rate of readmissions for these same patient groups decreased by 6.6 and 6.9 percent, respectively.

How do you calculate number of readmissions in a hospital?

b The number of readmissions are 12-month counts calculated by multiplying the readmission rate by the 12-month index admission counts. c Medicare patients under age 21 years are included in the Medicare total for all ages but are not reported separately because of the small number of cases.

What is the hospital readmissions reduction program?

The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) is a Medicare value-based purchasing program that encourages hospitals to improve communication and care coordination to better engage patients and caregivers in discharge plans and, in turn, reduce avoidable readmissions.

image

What is Medicare readmission rate?

The overall readmission rate was 14.0 per 100 index admissions, with Medicare stays having the highest readmission rate (16.9 percent) and privately insured stays having the lowest readmission rate (8.7 percent).

What is the benchmark for readmission rate?

Benchmark readmission rates, based on the overall rate of readmission within 30 days of discharge for beneficiaries in each of 18 clinical risk groups over the 5-year period, ranged from 5.3% to 41.8% (Table 1).

What percent of Medicare patients are readmitted within 30 days?

The results of the study are also consistent with MedPAC's 2008 report, which said 18 percent of Medicare hospitalizations result in readmissions within 30 days of discharge.

What is hospital readmission rate in 2019?

The most recent data available show 14.9% (2019).

What is the Medicare 30-day readmission rule?

Medicare counts as a readmission any of those patients who ended up back in any hospital within 30 days of discharge, except for planned returns like a second phase of surgery. A hospital will be penalized if its readmission rate is higher than expected given the national trends in any one of those categories.

What diagnosis has the highest 30-day readmission rate for Medicare patients?

Among these most frequent conditions, the highest readmission rates were seen for congestive heart failure (24.7 percent), schizophrenia (22.3 percent), and acute and unspecified renal failure (21.7 percent). In other words, for these conditions over one in five patients were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days.

How many Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted within 30 days every year?

The study found that 19.6% of beneficiaries were readmitted within 30 days of their initial discharge, 34% within 90 days and 56.1% within 12 months (Shelton, Chicago Tribune , 4/1).

How do you calculate readmission rate?

Readmission rate: number of readmissions (numerator) divided by number of discharges (denominator); each readmission should be counted only once to avoid skewing the rate with multiple counts.

Why are readmission rates so high?

Failing to include patients in the discharge process results in higher hospital readmission rates, studies show. Patients who reported that they were not involved in their care during the original encounter were 34 percent more likely to experience a readmission, a recent Patient Experience study showed.

Does Medicare penalize hospitals for readmissions?

For the readmission penalties, Medicare cuts as much as 3 percent for each patient, although the average is generally much lower. The patient safety penalties cost hospitals 1 percent of Medicare payments over the federal fiscal year, which runs from October through September.

What is the leading cause of hospital readmissions?

Health Condition A study conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on readmissions from 2018 identified septicemia as the top cause of readmissions among Medicare patients, followed by congestive heart failure, COPD, pneumonia and renal failure.

How many readmissions occur within 90 days of discharge from hospitals?

Condition-specific 30- and 90-day readmission rates by post-acute discharge setting are presented in Table 1. For patients with stroke, 30-day readmission rates ranged from 8.8% in HHAs (ischemic) to 14.4% in SNFs (hemorrhagic) and 90-day rates ranged from 18.2% in HHAs (ischemic) to 26.1% in SNFs (hemorrhagic).

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9