Jeph Herrin|Justin St. Andre|Kevin Kenward|Maulik Joshi|Anne?Marie J. Audet|Stephen C. Hines
Community Factors and Hospital Readmission Rates
Yale University|Health Research and Educational Trust|Health Research and Educational Trust|Health Research and Educational Trust|Commonwealth Fund|Breakthrough|Health Research and Educational Trust
examine relationship community factors hospital readmission rateswe examined hospitals publicly reported 30day readmission rates patients discharged july 1 2007 june 30 2010 acute myocardial infarction ami heart failure hf pneumonia pn linked publicly available county data area resource file census nursing home compare neilsen popfacts datasetswe used hierarchical linear models assess effect county demographic access care nursing home quality characteristics pooled 30day riskstandardized readmission ratenot applicablethe study sample included 4073 hospitals fiftyeight percent national variation hospital readmission rates explained county hospital located multivariable analysis number county characteristics found independently associated higher readmission rates strongest associations measures access care county characteristics explained almost half total variation across countiescommunity factors measured county characteristics explain substantial amount variation hospital readmission rates