The Massachusetts Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA) has issued a new Hospital Readmissions Report documenting annual trends in statewide all-payer readmissions and readmission rates, covering SFY2011 through SFY2023. CHIA’s latest report includes an enhanced payer type classification with a breakout for patients dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, and it adds breakdowns for readmissions by patient race/ethnicity and sex to provide a more comprehensive look at differences in readmissions by important sociodemographic factors. CHIA has also included an interactive dashboard that provides more in-depth readmission statistics for each hospital.
Key findings from CHIA’s report include:
Key Findings
- The adult all-cause all-payer unplanned readmission rate in 2023 was 16.0 percent, consistent with previous years. Since 2020, the readmission rate has remained consistent.
- Dually eligible patients (i.e., individuals enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid) had the highest readmission rate of all payer groups, at 21.7 percent.
- The average length of stay (ALOS) for a discharge resulting in a readmission was 1.8 days longer than for discharges that did not result in a readmission – 7.1 days ALOS for discharges with readmission vs. 5.3 ALOS for discharges with no readmission in 2023.
- The ALOS for discharges resulting in readmissions was 7.1 days in 2023, compared to 5.6 days in 2011.
- Over one-third (36%) of readmissions occurred within the first week of discharge. Readmissions are most likely to occur within two days following discharge and steadily decrease over time.
- All-Payer Readmissions by Discharge Setting - Patients discharged to home had the lowest readmission rate (12.2%) compared with patients discharged to home with home health agencies (HHA,19.0%), to skilled nursing facilities (SNF, 20.9%), or to rehabilitation facilities (17.9%). While the all-payer readmission rate for patients discharged to home has remained low over time, readmission rates for patients discharged to HHA and SNF have increased in recent years. Readmission rates for patients discharged to rehabilitation facilities have decreased.