Hospitals with high readmissions rates may also have lower mortality rates for some conditions, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, found that patients suffering from heart failure, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are served in hospitals with higher readmission rates have a slightly better chance of survival than if they were treated in hospitals with lower readmission rates.

Such findings call into question the value of focusing on readmissions as a measure of the quality of care hospitals provide – a focus exemplified by Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program.

Find the study “Associations between hospital-wide readmission rates and mortality measures at the hospital level: Are hospital-wide readmissions a measure of quality?” here and find a summary of the study in this article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.