Study Characterizes Prevalence, Cost, and Common Diagnoses Associated with Medicaid Readmissions

​Readmissions account for 9.4% of all Medicaid admissions, average $77 million per state annually, and represent 12.5% of Medicaid payments for all hospitalizations, reports a study published in the August 2014 issue of Health Affairs. The researchers analyzed a sample of 2,671,589 hospital admissions of Medicaid beneficiaries under age 65 from 19 states in 2009 and 2010 to help Medicaid medical directors better understand the nature and prevalence of hospital use in the Medicaid population and provide a baseline for measuring improvement.