For the study, researchers compared hospitals’ performance on overall measure and appropriate care measure scores and those hospitals’ 30-day all-cause readmission rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and pneumonia and for those undergoing major surgery. The data was compiled from the 2007 Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.
The researchers found a weak link between performance on overall measures and appropriate care measures and readmission rates. For instance, they only determined a significant difference in admission rates between the highest-performing (1st quartile) and the lowest-performing hospitals only for AMI and pneumonia patients.
These findings suggest that higher adherence to process of care measures may not reduce 30-day all-cause readmission rates, calling into question the effectiveness of these measures on preventable readmissions.
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