AHRQ Report: Maternity Hospital Readmissions on the Decline

Hospitals are doing a better job at reducing hospital readmissions for maternity patients, according to a new AHRQ analysis. From 2010 to 2016, the maternity readmission rate fell 21 percent for uninsured patients, 18 percent for those with private insurance and 14 percent for Medicaid patients. Maternity patients had the lowest readmission rate (4 percent) among 18 principal diagnosis types studied. The highest readmission rate (25 percent) was due to blood diseases. Data for the analysis were drawn from AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, the largest source of hospital care data in the United States. Access the analysis and AHRQ’s Re-Engineered Discharge (RED) Toolkit, developed to help hospitals reduce readmissions.