Background: Higher rates of 30-day readmissions are associated with lower quality hospital care, and readmissions may put patients at risk for worse health outcomes including death. Historically, 20% of hospitalized Medicare beneficiaries were readmitted within 30 days, and many readmissions appeared avoidable. Accordingly, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented the Hospital Readmissions [...]

Background: Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), a value-based quality initiative by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the 30-day readmission rate is a critical metric for determining financial penalties for hospitals. However, this metric only accounts for patients readmitted to inpatient units, excluding those who return for observation unit stays or [...]