Thirty-Day Readmission Rates for Medicare Beneficiaries by Race and Site of Care

Abstract

Racial disparities in health care are well documented,¹ and eliminating them remains a national priority.² Reducing readmissions has become a policy focus because it represents an opportunity to simultaneously improve quality and reduce costs, yet little is known about racial disparities in this area. While at least one study has found that in aggregate, across all conditions, black patients have slightly increased odds of readmission,³ others have found no such association.⁴ We are unaware of prior work on racial disparities in readmission rates at the national level for common medical conditions.