CHIA: Mass. adult hospital readmissions held steady in 2023 but differed greatly by patient characteristics

Photo I WBJ File UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester

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Adult hospital readmission rates in Central Massachusetts came in just below the state’s average in 2023, and while most returned to their original hospital when readmitted, UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and Athol Hospital bookended the region with vastly different return readmission rates.

Last year, the Central Massachusetts readmission rate sat at between 15.0% and 15.9%, just below the statewide average of 16.0%, the latter a figure consistent with previous years, according to a report released Wednesday by state’s Center for Health Information and Analysis.

“Unplanned hospital readmissions result in material costs to the health care system, patients,
and their families,” Lauren Peters, executive director of CHIA, said in a Wednesday press release. “This reporting series monitors readmission trends over time and variation among patient populations to better inform targeted interventions and solutions .”

When broken down by health insurance type, readmission rates were far from homogeneous.

Patients in Massachusetts dually enrolled in both Medicare and MassHealth represented the highest readmission rate of all payer plans at 21.7% while patients enrolled in Medicare, regardless of their dual eligibility status, made up 59% of all readmissions in the state.

While the percentage of patients covered by commercial insurance has grown over the past several years, the group still had the lowest readmission rate of all payer types at 9.9%.

Readmission rates also different greatly by sex, race, and age. In 2023, male patients’ readmission rate was one percentage point higher than female readmission rates at 16.5% and 15.5%, respectively.

The readmission rate for Black patients was the highest among all racial and ethnic groups at 17.3% while the rate among Asian patients was the lowest at 13.7%. At 17.8%, Black and Hispanic patients 65 and older had the highest readmission rate of all age and racial/ethnic groups.

In Central Massachusetts specifically, return readmission rates, in which a patient returned to the same hospital when readmitted, hovered around the state’s average of 77.8% for most of the region’s hospitals except for Athol Hospital, which had a return readmission rate of 50.6%. UMMH had the highest return readmission rate of 83.2%.

A breakdown of the return hospital readmission rate and age readmission rates of the state and by Central Massachusetts hospital are below:

State average:
Return hospital readmission: 77.8%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 14.9%
Readmission for ages 65+: 16.7%

Athol Hospital:
Return hospital readmission: 50.6%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 11.5%
Readmission for ages 65+: 16.9%

UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital:
Return hospital readmission: 77.6%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 16.2%
Readmission for ages 65+: 18.6%

Heywood Hospital in Gardner:
Return hospital readmission: 69.1%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 11.2%
Readmission for ages 65+: 16.7%

Harrington Hospital in Southbridge:
Return hospital readmission: 71.3%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 15.9%
Readmission for ages 65+: 17.5%

Marlborough Hospital:
Return hospital readmission: 72.4%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 20.2%
Readmission for ages 65+: 17.8%

MetroWest Medical Center in Framingham:
Return hospital readmission: 75.5%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 14.1%
Readmission for ages 65+: 18.3%

Milford Regional Medical Center:
Return hospital readmission: 79.9%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 11.6%
Readmission for ages 65+: 18.5%

Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester:
Return hospital readmission: 79.2%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 16.0%
Readmission for ages 65+: 17.7%

UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester:
Return hospital readmission: 83.2%
Readmission for ages 18 to 65: 13.0%
Readmission for ages 65+: 16.3%

Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.