Latest hospital readmissions data highlight the challenges posed by septicemia.pdf

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Blog | Quality Measures
Latest hospital readmissions data highlight the
challenges posed by septicemia
Jul 30, 2021
By Nick Hut
Index admissions for circulatory system diseases and injuries were linked to the
costliest readmissions per case.
Newly released federal data presents a snapshot of hospital readmissions in 2018, and one takeaway
is the clinical and financial burden of septicemia.
For all diagnoses across payers, researchers reported a 30-day readmission rate of 14% and an
average cost per readmission of $15,200. The findings were presented in an Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality report (-
Frequent-Readmissions-By-Payer-2018.jsp) that examined 2018 data from the Nationwide
Readmissions Database.
The largest number of readmissions was associated with index admissions for septicemia, which
accounted for 314,600, or 8.3% of all readmissions. Septicemia, heart failure, diabetes and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease combined for about 20% of readmissions.
Septicemia also led to the most readmissions in each category of payer (Medicare, Medicaid, private
insurance, self-pay/no-charge). Heart failure was among the top five causes for each payer.
Septicemia also accounted for 9.6% of aggregate readmission costs for Medicaid patients and 8.6% for
self-pay/no-charge patients.

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Frequent and costly sources of readmissions
Regarding which diagnoses at index admission most often led to readmissions, sickle cell trait/anemia
ranked first at 36.1% across payers, as well as within Medicare (37.2%) and Medicaid (39.4%). Hepatic
failure (34.9%) was another condition for which more than a third of index admissions led to
readmissions.