Patient Characteristics and Differences in Hospital Readmission Rates

Critics of the methodology used in calculating Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) penalties have highlighted in their commentary the use of insufficiently comprehensive readjustment rates (i.e., rates that do not take into account the full range of patient characteristics that may be related to hospital readmissions). The authors of this JAMA article examined the relationship between a broad set of 29 patient variables not included in the current CMS risk adjustment calculations and survey data for all-cause readmissions using Health and Retirement Study and Medicare data sets. The authors found that a substantial portion of the variance in readmissions risk between those with low and high readmissions rates was accounted for by factors not included in CMS's current calculations.