Study: Hospitals receive readmission penalties for factors beyond their control

Editor's Note

This study of patient readmissions finds that hospitals are receiving financial penalties because of patient social determinants of health (SDH) factors (ie, race, ethnicity, payer, and household income) and not because they provide poor quality of care.

Analyzing hospital readmissions at 43 children’s hospitals, researchers found that adjusting for SDH factors resulted in a change in penalty status for three hospitals within a 15-day window and five hospitals within a 30-day window.

1Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora 2Children's Hospital Association, Overland Park, Kansas 3Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City 4Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 5Department of Pediatrics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 6Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine,