Accuracy of Hospital Discharge Codes in Medicare Claims for Knee and Hip Replacement Patients.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Despite the importance of the hospital discharge destination field ("discharge code" hereafter) for research and payment reform, its accuracy is not well established. OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to examine the accuracy of discharge codes in Medicare claims. DATA SOURCES:2012-2015 Medicare claims of knee and hip replacement patients. RESEARCH DESIGN:We identified patients' discharge location in claims and compared it with the discharge code. We also used a mixed-effects logistic regression to examine the association of patient and hospital characteristics with discharge code accuracy. RESULTS:Approximately 9% of discharge codes were inaccurate. Long-term care hospital discharge codes had the lowest accuracy rate (41%), followed by acute care transfers (72%), inpatient re

SUBMITTER: Kim H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7190286 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature