title: Identifying potentially preventable readmissions.
abstract: The potentially preventable readmission (PPR) method uses administrative data to identify hospital readmissions that may indicate problems with quality of care. The PPR logic determines whether the reason for readmission is clinically related to a prior admission, and therefore potentially preventable. The likelihood of a PPR was found to be dependent on severity of illness, extremes of age, and the presence of mental health diagnoses. Analyses using PPRs show that readmission rates increase with increasing severity of illness and increasing time between admission and readmission, vary by the type of prior admission, and are stable within hospitals over time.
authors.affiliation: 3M Health Information Systems, Wallingford, CT 06492, USA. nigoldfield@mmm.com
authors.forename: Norbert I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Goldfield
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: McCullough
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Ana M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eastman
authors.forename: Lisa K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Rawlins
authors.forename: Richard F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Averill
mesh_terms: D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005431:Florida; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D018570:Risk Assessment