• Leora I Horwitz, Jacqueline N Grady, Dorothy B Cohen, Zhenqiu Lin, Mark Volpe, Chi K Ngo, Andrew L Masica, Theodore Long, Jessica Wang, Megan Keenan, Julia Montague, Lisa G Suter, Joseph S Ross, Elizabeth E Drye, Harlan M Krumholz, and Susannah M Bernheim.
• Division of Healthcare Delivery Science, Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
• J Hosp Med. 2015 Oct 1; 10 (10): 670677670-7.

BackgroundIt is desirable not to include planned readmissions in readmission measures because they represent deliberate, scheduled care.ObjectivesTo develop an algorithm to identify planned readmissions, describe its performance characteristics, and identify improvements.DesignConsensus-driven algorithm development and chart review validation study at 7 acute-care hospitals in 2 health systems.PatientsFor development, all discharges qualifying for the publicly reported hospital-wide readmission measure. For validation, all qualifying same-hospital readmissions that were characterized by the algorithm as planned, and a random sampling of same-hospital readmissions that were characterized as unplanned.MeasurementsWe calculated weighted sensitivity and specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of the algorithm (version 2.1), compared to gold standard chart review.ResultsIn consultation with 27 experts, we developed an algorithm that characterizes 7.8% of readmissions as planned. For validation we reviewed 634 readmissions. The weighted sensitivity of the algorithm was 45.1% overall, 50.9% in large teaching centers and 40.2% in smaller community hospitals. The weighted specificity was 95.9%, positive predictive value was 51.6%, and negative predictive value was 94.7%. We identified 4 minor changes to improve algorithm performance. The revised algorithm had a weighted sensitivity 49.8% (57.1% at large hospitals), weighted specificity 96.5%, positive predictive value 58.7%, and negative predictive value 94.5%. Positive predictive value was poor for the 2 most common potentially planned procedures: diagnostic cardiac catheterization (25%) and procedures involving cardiac devices (33%).ConclusionsAn administrative claims-based algorithm to identify planned readmissions is feasible and can facilitate public reporting of primarily unplanned readmissions.© 2015 Society of Hospital Medicine.

11 keywords...

hide…