Accounting For Patients' Socioeconomic Status Does Not Change Hospital Readmission Rates.

ABSTRACT: There is an active public debate about whether patients' socioeconomic status should be included in the readmission measures used to determine penalties in Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Using the current Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services methodology, we compared risk-standardized readmission rates for hospitals caring for high and low proportions of patients of low socioeconomic status (as defined by their Medicaid status or neighborhood income). We then calculated risk-standardized readmission rates after additionally adjusting for patients' socioeconomic status. Our results demonstrate that hospitals caring for large proportions of patients of low socioeconomic status have readmission rates similar to those of other hospitals. Moreover, readmission r

SUBMITTER: Bernheim SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7664840 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature