Skilled Nursing Facility Differences in Readmission Rates by the Diagnosis-Related Group Category of the Initial Hospitalization

The US Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General report on nursing homes found that skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) exhibit wide differences in overall hospital readmission rates. Because evidence has been found that hospital readmission rates can be lowered by discharging to specific SNFs, policy makers have started using hospital readmission rates by SNFs as a measure of quality of care patients receive at these facilities.

In a letter to the editor, a group of authors featuring HIP Investigator Dr. Maureen Smith, examined whether SNFs differed substantially in their readmission rates by the DRG category of the initial hospitalization (ie, medically uncomplicated, surgically uncomplicated, medically complicated, or surgically complicated). The authors’ results suggest considerable differences in readmission rates across SNFs by DRG category of the initial hospitalization, despite similar overall readmission rates.

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