Hospital Readmissions among Medicaid Beneficiaries with Disabilities: Identifying Targets of Opportunity

This resource examines Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities who were hospitalized during 2003–2005 in order to identify opportunities to reduce hospital readmission rates in this population.

• The 30-day readmission rate for Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities was 16 percent and rose to 53 percent after one year.
• Fifty percent of those readmitted within 30 days did not visit a physician between discharge and readmission.
• The likelihood of readmission increased with the number of multiple chronic conditions, especially in regard to mental illness, substance abuse disorders, skin infections, and infectious disease.
• Greater variation in Medicaid readmission rates compared to Medicare readmission rates suggest that state-level policies may impact readmission rates.
• Providing more primary care visits and paying a higher average price per visit were associated with lower rates of readmission.
• Models of care that coordinate transitions between inpatient and ambulatory care exist and might lead to a reduction in readmission rates for this population if these models were more widely adopted.