Live Research · Healthcare · 2026
Do hospitals that communicate better at discharge have fewer readmissions?
• The Question — Whether patient-reported discharge information is associated with hospital-wide readmission rates
• The Foundation — Discharge-planning and patient-experience research, tested against two CMS measures covering the same year
• The Finding — Across 61 Wisconsin hospitals, the primary association was weak and uncertain
How The Study Was Done
CMS records were matched by hospital ID for July 2022–June 2023. The analysis compared discharge-information scores with risk-standardized readmission rates, using correlation, regression and 10,000 bootstrap samples. A stricter survey threshold tested how sensitive the finding was to hospital selection.
A five-point higher discharge score was associated with a 0.26-percentage-point lower readmission rate. The 95% interval ranged from 0.64 points lower to 0.09 points higher. This hospital-level comparison does not establish causation.
Analysis Updated October 29, 2026
The study, source data and revision history are maintained on GitHub.
The study, source data and revision history are maintained on GitHub.
Photograph by Parsa Ara, lightly edited for the cover. Illustrative skilled-nursing scene; not a study participant or observed discharge.