Hospital Readmission--Not Just a Measure of Quality

The current understanding of what drives readmission focuses on the quality of the inpatient discharge process and on patients' health status. Health care administrators have relied on this narrow framework to conclude that the best approach to reduce readmission rates is to improve the discharge process for medically high-risk patients. This strategy may yield disappointing results because it misses important factors that contribute to readmission. In this Commentary, we propose a broader framework that can be used to identify alternative strategies to reduce readmissions.