Overview of Clinical Conditions With Frequent and Costly Hospital Readmissions by Payer, 2018

Excerpt

This Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Statistical Brief presents statistics on hospital inpatient conditions with high frequency and cost of readmissions among adults (aged 18 years and older) by expected payer using the 2018 Nationwide Readmissions Database (NRD). A readmission was defined as a subsequent hospital admission for any cause within 30 days following an initial stay (index admission) between January and November 2018. Three readmission metrics are presented overall and by expected payer: (1) conditions with the highest number of readmissions, (2) conditions with the highest readmission rate, and (3) conditions with the highest average readmission cost. The expected payer and condition (principal diagnosis) are based on the index admission. Index admissions for cancer and cancer-related therapies are included in overall readmission statistics but are not reported in condition-specific statistics.