Hawaii had the biggest drop in hospital readmissions among all the states over the past five years, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services.
The state saw readmissions — a key measure of a hospital’s quality — fall 13.4 percent, with 15,799 in 2015 compared with 16,824 in 2010.
“Once you’re out of the hospital, you don’t necessarily want to come back in,” said Dr. Leslie Chun, chief medical officer for the Queen’s Medical Center. “Our ideal world is that patients don’t have to come back. You want them to succeed outside the hospital setting.”
Reducing readmissions involves health care providers following up with patients after discharge to make sure their medications are correct, they’re keeping their doctors’ appointments and their conditions are improving.
“What you want to do at discharge is to make sure patients are set up for success,” Chun said. “Queen’s has invested heavily in reducing readmissions because we do believe it’s a key marker in the quality of service we provide.”
CMS, which administers Medicare and Medicaid — the government health insurance programs for seniors and low-income residents — considers it a readmission when a patient is admitted into a hospital within 30 days after being discharged, and reimburses providers in part based on that measure.
To prevent costly readmissions, the federal Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — reduced payments for hospitals with higher-than-expected 30-day readmission rates for certain conditions such as heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. Previously, health care providers were paid based on volume.
“Returning to the hospital is the last thing most people want,” said Tim Gronniger, CMS deputy chief of staff, in an email. “That’s why the administration has prioritized this area for work with our partners in the clinical community. Hawaii’s hospitals have made significant progress in helping patients to recover at home over the last five years.”
Readmissions within 30 days of a patient’s discharge are estimated to account for more than $17 billion in Medicare spending each year, CMS said in a news release.
Nationally, readmission rates fell by 8 percent. Every state except Vermont has seen lower 30-day readmission rates. Since 2010, the federal government estimates Medicare beneficiaries have avoided 565,000 readmissions.
