Table 1.
Hospital and Patient Characteristics and Measures of Readmission
| Frequency or Mean (SD) | |
|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |
| Number of AMI patients, n | 188 611 |
| Number of AMI patients per hospital | 116 (125) |
| Mean age, y | 78.4 (7.7) |
| Male sex, % | 51.6 (50.0) |
| Black race, % | 6.5 (24.6) |
| Health system characteristics | |
| Number of hospitals, n=1088 | 1088 |
| Academic hospitals, % | 8.5 (27.9) |
| Hospital outcomes | |
| 30‐day readmission rate, % | 20.3 (6.4) |
| Number of readmissions, n | 38 350 |
| Case mix: predicted probability of readmission, % | 21.6 (7.1) |
| 30‐day death rate, % | 3.6 (18.6) |
| Measures of quality, capacity, and intensity | |
| Quality measures | |
| Discharge planning: HCAHPS (%, hospital level) | 79.2 (4.6) |
| PCP visit within 14‐days (%, hospital level) | 60.7 (11.6) |
| Capacity measures | |
| PCPs per 100 000 population (HSA level) | 72.2 (18.8) |
| Cardiologists per 100 000 population (HSA level) | 6.6 (2.9) |
| Hospital size (average number of beds, hospital level) | 396 (264) |
| All medical admission rates per 1000 beneficiaries (HSA level) | 244 (41) |
| Intensity measures | |
| Last 6 months of life hospital days (hospital level) | 13.4 (3.1) |
| Last 6 months of life ICU days (hospital level) | 4.5 (2.4) |
| Last 6 months of life number of physician visits (hospital level) | 36.8 (11.9) |
| Last 6 months of life 10 or more physicians seen (hospital level) | 10.1 (2.0) |
The value is the percentage of patients responding affirmatively to 2 questions about discharge planning on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey: “During this hospital stay, did doctors, nurse or other hospital staff talk with you about whether you would have the help you needed when you left the hospital?” and “During the hospital stay, did you get information in writing about what symptoms or health problems to look out for after you left the hospital?” AMI indicates acute myocardial infarction; HSA, hospital service area; ICU, intensive care unit; PCP, primary care physician.