St. Cloud Hospital Had Minnesota’s Lowest Readmission Rate for Major Joint Replacement or Reattachment Patients was 4.40%

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Dexur analysts conducted a study on Medicare patients who underwent a major joint replacement or reattachment of lower extremity without major complication or comorbidity at major Minnesota hospitals and found that only 4.40% of St. Cloud’s Medicare discharges were readmitted in the following 30 days. This was the lowest 30-day readmission rate in the state for this particular surgical procedure, which is classified as DRG-470. St. Cloud’s 4.40% rate was 0.50% lower than the state’s average 30-day readmission rate for DRG-470 and 5.13% under the national readmission rate. The state rate was 5.10% while the national rate for 2016 was 9.53%. St. Cloud Hospital’s 30-day readmission rate for DRG-470 is shown below, in comparison to the Minnesota hospitals with the next four lowest rates.

This analysis focusing on DRG-470 included Minnesota hospitals with over 3,500 total Medicare inpatient discharges and more than 11 discharges for DRG-470 between January and December 2016 were examined. There were 13 hospitals within Minnesota that fit the criteria to be included in this study. Hospitals have been particularly intent on reducing readmission rates since the introduction of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program in 2015, which has been largely successful. By decreasing the number of patients who return following a DRG-470 discharge, hospitals beds and staff are able to treat even more patients.

There were four other Minnesota hospitals in addition to St. Cloud Hospital in St. Cloud that had 30-day readmission rates under 5.0%. Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester, located in Rochester, was ranked 2nd with a 30-day readmission rate of 4.48%. It was followed by Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina at 3rd with 4.66% of Medicare DRG-470 patients readmitted within 30 days. Regions Hospital and United Hospital, both located in Saint Paul had readmission rates of 4.71% and 4.86%, respectively. This placed them at 4th and 5th in the state, respectively.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saparja Nag

Saparja is a healthcare journalist with a particular interest in how medicine can and should affect health policy. She has extensive experience as a health educator and research scientist in biochemistry. She also enjoys running, cooking elaborate meals, and then eating elaborate meals. Saparja received a Bachelors of Arts in Biochemistry from Vassar College.