Inquiry J Health Car
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Inquiry J Health Car · Jan 1996
Does risk-adjusted readmission rate provide valid information on hospital quality?
The purpose of this study was to determine whether readmission rates, adjusted to account for differences in clinical characteristics of patients treated, provide valid information on hospital quality of care. Twelve clinical conditions were selected. Condition-specific models to predict readmission risk were estimated using Medicare UB-82 claims data. ⋯ My analysis found no support for this hypothesis. In each of the 12 clinical conditions studied, readmission rates of cases that received poor quality care were essentially the same as those whose care was judged acceptable. This was true both for readmission rates that were adjusted for patients' demographic and clinical characteristics, and for unadjusted rates, such as those typically displayed in hospital report cards.
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Inquiry J Health Car · Jan 1996
The effect of rural hospital closures on the financial performance of neighboring rural hospitals.
This study investigates how the closure of rural hospitals affected other rural hospitals. The empirical analysis examined whether being the neighbor of a closed rural hospital affected financial performance variables during the periods before and after closure. Before and after comparisons of surviving rural hospitals were made between 1985 and 1989 for closures in 1987 and between 1986 and 1990 for closures in 1988. The regression results showed that neighbors of closed rural hospitals typically did experience increased volume in comparison to non-neighbors, but the increased volume did not lead to reductions in average cost or to improved profitability, after controlling for other factors.