Acute Inpatient Hospital Readmissions

SAS Name
READMISSIONS

This variable is the count of hospital readmissions in the acute inpatient setting for a given year.

The CLM_FROM_DT for the original admission must have been in the year of the data file, however it was permissible for the readmission claim to have occurred in January of the following year. A beneficiary is considered to be readmitted when they have an acute inpatient stay with a discharge status that is not expired (DSCHRG_STUS=20) or left against medical advice (DSCHRG_STUS not equal to 07) within 30 days of a previous acute inpatient stay with a discharge status that is also not expired or left against medical advice.

Comments

All hospital stays during the year, including readmissions, are counted in the ACUTE_STAYS variable.

Similarly, all acute hospital inpatient payments including payments for readmissions are included in the ACUTE_* payment variables.

Source: CCW (derived)