Is a Low Readmission Rate Indicative of a Good Hospital?

Hospital readmission rate alone is a limited measure of quality given the poor correlation between hospital readmission and mortality rates. In this study, 85% of hospital outliers were “discordant” for readmission and mortality. Furthermore, almost a quarter of these discordant hospitals had “expected” or “low” readmission but “high” mortality rates. Quality metrics that focus exclusively on readmission rates overlook these discrepancies.