Measure explainer
Unplanned Hospital Visits & Readmissions
How often patients return to the hospital unexpectedly within 30 days of discharge — a marker of care quality and discharge planning.
How CMS calculates it
Readmission rates are risk-adjusted so hospitals treating sicker patients are compared fairly. They cover common conditions and procedures including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, hip/knee replacement, and CABG.
Why it matters
These measures give patients, clinicians, and hospital boards a standardized way to compare care quality across facilities. For unplanned hospital visits & readmissions, the general rule is lower is better. Always weigh a single measure alongside the full picture — case-mix, hospital size, and whether the measure is publicly reported for the hospital in question.
How to read the scores on this site
- Score: the hospital's reported value.
- Compared to national: better than, no different from, or worse than the US average, with a color dot and text label.
- Sample: the denominator or number of cases the score is based on. Larger samples are more statistically reliable.