Key result
The risk-standardized readmission rate should be used with caution as a generic quality indicator in the Korean healthcare setting due to methodological challenges including readmission definitions, risk adjustment, and data accuracy.
The paper reviews methodological and practical considerations for using the risk-standardized readmission rate as a generic quality indicator in the Korean healthcare system, emphasizing the need for careful application and further validation.
Urges caution applying readmission metrics for Korean hospital benchmarking; leaves open development of validated, context-specific indicators.
The hospital readmission rate has been widely used as an indicator of the quality of hospital care in many countries. However, the transferrability of this indicator that has been developed in a different health care system can be questioned. We reviewed what should be considered when using the risk-standardized readmission rate (RSRR) as a generic quality indicator in the Korean setting. We addressed the relationship between RSRR and the quality of hospital care, methodological aspects of RSRR, and use of RSRR for external purposes. These issues can influence the validity of the readmission rate as a generic quality indicator. Therefore RSRR should be used with care and further studies are needed to enhance the validity of the readmission rate indicator.
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Choi et al. (2016) conducted a review in Hospital readmission. Risk-standardized readmission rate (RSRR) as a quality indicator was evaluated. The risk-standardized readmission rate should be used with caution as a generic quality indicator in the Korean healthcare setting due to methodological challenges including readmission definitions, risk adjustment, and data accuracy.
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