30-Day Readmissions following Hospitalizations for Chronic vs. Acute Conditions, 2008

Excerpt

Hospital readmissions are an important measure for assessing performance of the health care system., One strategy for improving health care quality and lowering costs is to reduce the rates of preventable readmissions. Developing multi-state benchmarks for hospital readmission rates can help to identify opportunities for targeted improvement efforts. As a companion to Brief #115, All-Cause Readmissions by Payer and Age, 2008, this Statistical Brief presents data on hospital readmissions within 30 days following an initial hospitalization, stratified by whether or not the patient received surgical treatment during the initial stay.