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Skilled Nursing Facility 30-Day All Cause Readmission

INACTIVE REVIEW: This measure review is older than five years.

This measure estimates the risk-standardized rate of all-cause, unplanned, hospital readmissions for patients who have been admitted to a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) (Medicare fee-for-service [FFS] beneficiaries) within 30 days of discharge from their prior proximal hospitalization. The prior proximal hospitalization is defined as an admission to an IPPS, CAH, or a psychiatric hospital. The measure is based on data for 12 months of SNF admissions.

A risk-adjusted readmission rate for each facility is calculated as follows:

  • Step 1: Calculate the standardized risk ratio of the predicted number of readmissions at the facility divided by the expected number of readmissions for the same patients if treated at the average facility. The magnitude of the risk-standardized ratio is the indicator of a facility's effects on readmission rates.
  • Step 2: The standardized risk ratio is then multiplied by the mean rate of readmission in the population (i.e., all Medicare FFS patients included in the measure) to generate the facility-level standardized readmission rate.

For this measure, readmissions that are usually for planned procedures are excluded. Please refer to the Appendix, Tables 1 - 5 for a list of planned procedures.

The measure specifications are designed to harmonize with CMS' hospital-wide readmission (HWR) measure to the greatest extent possible. The HWR (NQF #1789) estimates the hospital-level, risk-standardize rate of unplanned, all-cause readmissions within 30 days of a hospital discharge and uses the same 30-day risk window as the SNFRM.

Date Reviewed: November 7, 2015

Measure Info

NQF 2510 NQF Endorsed
Measure Type
Outcome
Measure Steward
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Clinical Topic Area
Care Coordination

Care Setting
Post-Acute Care
Data Source
Claims

ACP supports this measure. There is some evidence that readmission performance measures have reduced rates at the margins and improved population health. Additionally, this measure helps to align Accountable Care Organizations/hospitals and skilled nursing facilities.