An administrative claims measure suitable for profiling hospital performance based on 30-day all-cause readmission rates among patients with acute myocardial infarction

Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. 2011 Mar;4(2):243-52. doi: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.110.957498.

Abstract

Background: National attention has increasingly focused on readmission as a target for quality improvement. We present the development and validation of a model approved by the National Quality Forum and used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for hospital-level public reporting of risk-standardized readmission rates for patients discharged from the hospital after an acute myocardial infarction.

Methods and results: We developed a hierarchical logistic regression model to calculate hospital risk-standardized 30-day all-cause readmission rates for patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction. The model was derived using Medicare claims data for a 2006 cohort and validated using claims and medical record data. The unadjusted readmission rate was 18.9%. The final model included 31 variables and had discrimination ranging from 8% observed 30-day readmission rate in the lowest predictive decile to 32% in the highest decile and a C statistic of 0.63. The 25th and 75th percentiles of the risk-standardized readmission rates across 3890 hospitals were 18.6% and 19.1%, with fifth and 95th percentiles of 18.0% and 19.9%, respectively. The odds of all-cause readmission for a hospital 1 SD above average were 1.35 times that of a hospital 1 SD below average. Hospital-level adjusted readmission rates developed using the claims model were similar to rates produced for the same cohort using a medical record model (correlation, 0.98; median difference, 0.02 percentage points).

Conclusions: This claims-based model of hospital risk-standardized readmission rates for patients with acute myocardial infarction produces estimates that are excellent surrogates for those produced from a medical record model.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Cohort Studies
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Insurance Claim Review / statistics & numerical data*
  • Logistic Models
  • Male
  • Medicare / statistics & numerical data*
  • Models, Statistical*
  • Myocardial Infarction / therapy*
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care
  • Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / standards*
  • Patient Readmission / statistics & numerical data*
  • Quality of Health Care / standards*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Risk Factors
  • Time Factors
  • United States