Avoidable readmissions have declined significantly between 2012 and 2013, continuing the second year of declining readmissions, according to data from CMS.
The agency posted all-cause 30-day readmission rates data between 2007 and the first eight months of 2013. It found:
- Readmission rates were fairly constant between 2007 and 2011, hovering around 19 percent.
- The all-cause 30-day readmission rate fell to 18.5 percent in 2012.
- The first eight months of all-cause readmissions data from 2013 show a readmission rate of less than 18 percent, translating to an estimated 130,000 fewer hospital readmissions between Jan.1 and Aug. 31.
- All-cause readmission rates declined between .25 and more than 1.5 percent in 49 states and in the District of Columbia.
- Utah, the only state in which readmissions rates did not significantly decrease, already had one of the lowest readmissions rates in the U.S., according to a CMS blog post.
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