Skip to main content

Hybrid Hospital-Wide Readmission (HWR) Measure with Claims and Electronic Health Record Data

CBE ID
2879e
Endorsed
Endorsement Status
1.1 New or Maintenance
Is Under Review
No
Next Planned Maintenance Review
Fall 2024
1.3 Measure Description

This measure estimates a hospital-level, risk-standardized readmission rate (RSRR) of unplanned, all-cause readmission within 30 days of hospital discharge for any eligible condition. The measure reports a single summary RSRR, derived from the volume-weighted results of five different models, one for each of the following specialty cohorts based on groups of discharge condition categories or procedure categories: surgery/gynecology, general medicine, cardiorespiratory, cardiovascular, and neurology. The measure also indicates the hospital-level standardized readmission ratios (SRR) for each of these five specialty cohorts. The outcome is defined as unplanned readmission for any cause within 30 days of the discharge date for the index admission (the admission included in the measure cohort). A specified set of readmissions are planned and do not count in the readmission outcome. The target population is Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) beneficiaries who are 65 years or older, and hospitalized in non-federal hospitals.

This Hybrid HWR measure is a re-engineered version of the HWR measure 1789, the Hospital-Wide All-Cause Unplanned Readmission Measure, which was developed for patients 65 years and older using Medicare claims and is currently publicly reported in the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program. This reengineered measure uses clinical data elements from patients’ electronic health records in addition to claims data for risk adjustment.

        • 1.5 Measure Type
          1.7 Electronic Clinical Quality Measure (eCQM)
          1.8 Level Of Analysis
          1.20 Testing Data Sources
        • 1.14 Numerator

          The outcome for this measure is 30-day readmission. We define readmission as an inpatient admission for any cause, with the exception of certain planned readmissions, within 30 days from the date of discharge from an eligible index admission. If a patient has more than one unplanned admission (for any reason) within 30 days after discharge from the index admission, only one is counted as a readmission. The measure looks for a dichotomous yes or no outcome of whether each admitted patient has an unplanned readmission within 30 days. However, if the first readmission after discharge is considered planned, any subsequent unplanned readmission is not counted as an outcome for that index admission because the unplanned readmission could be related to care provided during the intervening planned readmission rather than during the index admission.

        • 1.15 Denominator

          The measure includes admissions for Medicare beneficiaries who are 65 years and older and are discharged from all non-federal, acute care inpatient US hospitals (including territories) with a complete claims history for the 12 months prior to admission.

          Additional details are provided in S.7 Denominator Details.

        • Exclusions

          The Hybrid HWR measure excludes index admissions for patients:
          1. Admitted to Prospective Payment System (PPS)-exempt cancer hospitals;
          2. Without at least 30 days post-discharge enrollment in Medicare FFS; 
          3. Discharged against medical advice (AMA);
          4. Admitted for primary psychiatric diagnoses;
          5. Admitted for rehabilitation; or
          6. Admitted for medical treatment of cancer.

        • 1.13a Data dictionary not attached
          No
          OLD 1.12 MAT output not attached
          Attached
        • Most Recent Endorsement Activity
          Endorsed All-Cause Admissions and Readmissions Project 2015-2017
          Initial Endorsement
          Last Updated
              • Risk Adjustment
                Risk adjustment approach
                Off
                Risk adjustment approach
                Off
                Conceptual model for risk adjustment
                Off
                Conceptual model for risk adjustment
                Off