CHIA Releases New Report on Behavioral Health and Readmissions in Massachusetts Acute Care Hospitals
DATE: October 29, 2020
CHIA is excited to announce the publication of its third report on behavioral health and readmissions in Massachusetts acute care hospitals. This report is a statewide, all-payer examination of the prevalence of behavioral health comorbidities and readmissions among hospitalized adults in Massachusetts acute care hospitals.
Based on CHIA's hospital inpatient discharge data between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018, CHIA examined the readmission patterns for individuals with comorbid behavioral health conditions at the statewide level, by patient demographics, payer type, discharge diagnosis, and discharge setting. New analyses in this report also explore associations between the presence of any behavioral health comorbidity and inpatient hospital length of stay among top discharge diagnoses.
Key Findings:
- Forty-five percent (45%) of adults hospitalized in Massachusetts acute care hospitals had at least one comorbid behavioral health condition in SFY 2018 (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018).
- Over sixty percent (62%) of hospitalized adult Medicaid patients had a comorbid behavioral health condition.
- Patients with any behavioral health comorbidity had inpatient stays that were, on average, 1.4 days longer than patients with no behavioral health comorbidity (5.7 days vs. 4.3 days).
- Readmission rates for patients with any behavioral health comorbidity were nearly double the readmission rates for patients without a comorbid behavioral health condition (20.4% vs. 10.5%).
This report is also accompanied by a databook and technical appendix. For more information on hospital-wide adult all-payer readmissions in the Commonwealth, please visit the Hospital-Wide Adult All-Payer Readmissions webpage.
