AHRQ: ‘Super-Utilizers’ account for half of 30-day Medicaid hospital readmissions

The readmission rate of super-utilizers, or patients who had four or more admissions during 2012, was nearly six times as high as that of other Medicaid patients, according to a statistical brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Super-utilizers are a relatively small group of patients who account for a disproportionately large share of hospital services and costs. The brief, written as part of AHRQ’s Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, specifically found that the 30-day all-cause readmission rate among super-utilizers was 52.4 percent compared with 8.8 percent for other Medicaid patients.

The brief cited the two most common reasons for hospitalization: mood disorders; and schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

Read the brief.