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Having good hospital readmission rates is nearly impossible without a curated patient engagement strategy.
A key metric in most value-based care models, hospital readmission rates measure the proportion of patients who are readmitted back into the hospital after discharge. Many hospitals look at their readmission rates at different intervals—30, 60, and 180 days—but most payment models primarily look at the 30-day all-cause hospital readmission rate to determine hospital payment.
CMS has led the charge in addressing hospital readmissions through the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), implemented in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says HRRP reduced hospital readmission between 2010 and 2014. Those decreases leveled off after that. However, when data is risk-adjusted, rates continue to decline.
But there’s still room to grow. According to a 2021 report from the Joint Commission, there were 3.8 million 30-day all-cause adult hospital readmissions in 2018, the most recent year for which it had data. That amounts to a 14 percent readmission rate, costing an average of $15,200 per readmission.
Reducing hospital readmissions can be difficult because it depends on numerous variables. In addition to delivering high-quality care, providers must motivate patients to engage in post-discharge care management and ensure the patient’s condition does not unpredictably worsen.