30-day readmission occurs when patients who have had a recent hospital stay need to go back into a hospital again within 30 days of their discharge. The readmission can be for any cause to any acute care hospital.

While some patients have a higher risk for hospital readmission than others, and some patients are readmitted to hospitals within 30 days for reasons entirely unrelated to their first problem, some of these readmissions may be preventable. A lower rate of hospital readmission may indicate that a hospital provides a higher level of patient care.

About this measure

This measure is the percent of patients who were discharged from the hospital after being admitted for heart failure and were readmitted to any hospital for any reason within 30 days after discharge. 

Data is not available during the 2012 time period.

In this case, a lower number is better.