title: Assessing preventability in the quest to reduce hospital readmissions.
abstract: Hospitals devote significant human and capital resources to eliminate hospital readmissions, prompted most recently by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) financial penalties for higher-than-expected readmission rates. Implicit in these efforts are assumptions that a significant proportion of readmissions are preventable, and preventable readmissions can be identified. Yet, no consensus exists in the literature regarding methods to determine which readmissions are reasonably preventable. In this article, we examine strengths and limitations of the CMS readmission metric, explore how preventable readmissions have been defined and measured, and discuss implications for readmission reduction efforts. Drawing on our clinical, research and operational experiences, we offer suggestions to address the key challenges in moving forward to measure and reduce preventable readmissions.
authors: Center for Evidence-based Practice, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors: Julia G
authors: JG
authors: Lavenberg
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Leas
authors: Craig A
authors: CA
authors: Umscheid
authors: Kendal
authors: K
authors: Williams
authors: David R
authors: DR
authors: Goldmann
authors: Sunil
authors: S
authors: Kripalani
mesh_terms: D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010359:Patient Readmission; D014481:United States