Do Causes of Early and Late Readmissions Within 30 Days of Discharge Differ?

Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses 30-day readmission rates as a quality metric, we don't know whether early and late readmissions during this window have the same causal factors. If causes differ, strategies to prevent such readmissions also will differ.

Researchers performed a retrospective, single-center cohort study of 14,000 admissions to a large urban teaching hospital during 2 years. Primary outcomes were divided into early readmissions (within 7 days after discharge) and late readmissions (8–30 days after discharge). The overall 30-day readmission rate was 20% (of these, 40% early and 60% late). Patients with higher comorbidity index scores had greater odds of both early and late readmissions. Researchers no…