Readmissions in 30 Days Account for up to a Quarter of Hospital Stays in Adult Medicaid Patients

In 2008 nearly 25 percent of hospital stays for adults age 45-64 with Medicaid as their primary payer were readmissions within 30 days of a previous stay, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The Federal agency's analysis, which was based on data from 15 States, also found that 12 percent of hospital stays for adults age 45-64 with private insurance were readmissions within 30 days of a previous stay.

In 2008, for Medicaid patients admitted for reasons other than childbirth:

• The highest percentage of readmissions occurred in the 45 to 64 age group. About 8 percent, 14 percent, and nearly 25 percent of hospital stays for this group were within 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days of the initial stay, respectively.
• Close to 21 percent of hospital stays for those ages 18 to 44 were readmissions within 30 days.
• For adult Medicaid patients under age 65, the readmission rates were 50 percent higher than those of privately insured for all time periods within 30 days of discharge.
• For Medicare patients age 65 and older, about 19 percent of hospital stays were readmissions within 30 days, 11 percent were readmissions within 14 days, and 6.5 percent were readmissions within 7 days.

This AHRQ News and Numbers summary is based on data from All-Cause Readmissions by Payer and Age, 2008. The report uses data from 15 States in the Agency's 2008 State Inpatient Databases. These states are Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. For information about this AHRQ database, go to https://www.ahrq.gov/data/hcup/datahcup.htm.

For other information, or to speak with an AHRQ data expert, please contact Bob Isquith at Bob.Isquith@ahrq.hhs.gov or call (301) 427-1539.

Note: This News and Numbers has been edited from the version posted on June 2 to reflect more accurately the data in the statistical brief on which is based.