Table 1.

Variation terms, definitions, and timeframes in preventable readmission research

Term	Index condition	Readmission condition	Timeframe
Early	Acutely decompensated heart failure	Heart failure or other cardiac cause	90 days[47]
Early	Any condition	Any condition	30 days[30,55]
Early	Any condition	Any condition	41 days[44]
Early	Any condition	Any nonelective readmission	60 days[22]
Early	CABG	Likely to be complications of CABG surgery	30 days[27]
Early	CABG surgery	Any condition	30 days[48]
Early	CHF	CHF exacerbation admission	30 days[50]
Early	CHF	CHF	180 days[21]
Early	Elective laparoscopic colon and rectal surgery	Any condition	30 days[37]
Early	Heart failure	Heart failure	30 days[28]
Early	Heart failure and shock	Any condition or heart failure	30 days[29]
Early	Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis surgery	Any emergent or elective, unplanned readmission	30 days[38]
Early	Multiple chronic illnesses	Any condition	3 to 4 months[45]
Early	Pancreatic resection	Any condition	30 days and 1 year[40]
Early	Pulmonary embolism	Any condition and complications of pulmonary embolism	30 days[23]
Early unplanned	Cardiac surgery	Any condition	30 days[46]
Late unplanned	Pneumonia	Pneumonia	30 days to 1 year[51]
Non-elective and unplanned	Congestive heart failure	Same DRG as index admission	30 days[35]
Potentially avoidable	AMI	AMI - related admissions	56 days to 3 years[25]
Potentially preventable	10 diagnosis of diabetes or 20 diabetes diagnosis among high risk conditions	Diabetes - related	30 and 180 days[31]
Potentially preventable	AHRQ's prevention quality indicators	AHRQ's prevention quality indicators	6 months[2]
Potentially preventable	Any condition	Clinically related to index admission	7, 15 and 30 days[26]
Readmissions due to early infection	Surgery	Infection	14 to 28 days[42]
Shortly after discharge	Heart failure	Any condition	30 days[32]
Short-term	Any surgical procedure	Venous thrombo-embolism (AHRQ PSI)	30 days[43]
Unexpected early	Intestinal operations	Any condition (excluding planned)	30 days[33]
Unplanned	Abdominal or perineal colon resection	Related to the primary surgical procedure	90 days[24]
Unplanned	Any acute, short-stay admission	Any unexpected admission	30 days[5]
Unplanned	Any condition	Any condition	Up to 39 days[54]
Unplanned	Any condition	Any condition	31 days[53]
Unplanned	Any non-maternal, substance abuse or against medical advice discharge	Emergent or urgent admissions	30 days[39]
Unplanned	Cancer	Any unplanned	7 days[52]
Unplanned	Cardiac surgery	Related to complications of cardiac surgery	30 days and 6 months[34]
Unplanned related	Ileal pouch-anal anastomosis surgery	Admission resulted from a complication	30 days[36]
Unplanned, non-elective	Traumatic brain injury	Any non-elective or unplanned reason	1 and 5 years[49]
Unplanned, undesirable readmissions	Diabetes	Any non-elective	30 days[41]