Indicator

NH Hospital Admissions

This indicator measures the percentage of nursing home residents considered long-stay residents as opposed to short-term residents hospitalized within a six-month period. Nationally, more than 1 out of every 6 long-stay nursing home residents (17.9 percent) were admitted to the hospital within six months of the baseline assessment. These burdensome transitions are often difficult on patients both physically and mentally, and nationally only Black and multiracial residents were hospitalized more than the national average.

On this page
11.8%
Best State Performance
17.9%
US Value

Compare State Data

†† Due to small sample size of one or more racial/ethnic groups, this indicator could not be calculated.  An imputed value was used for scoring, but is not displayed or ranked. 

Methodology

This is the percent of long-stay residents (residing in a nursing home for at least 90 consecutive days) who were ever hospitalized within six months of baseline assessment.

The study population was identified using data from MDS 3.0, which captures data on nursing home resident assessments, and the Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) file for inpatient hospital claims between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

These data were averaged at the state level following the LTSS State Scorecard approach to measuring equity.

Equity adjustment: Race/ethnicity is indicated in MDS by a 6 category multiple response variable with choices:

  • American Indian or Alaska Native
  • Asian
  • Black or African American
  • Hispanic or Latino
  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
  • White 

Residents were classified by race/ethnicity as follows:

  • Hispanic/Latino: “Hispanic or Latino” is selected
  • All Other Races/Ethnicities: exactly one race/ethnicity is selected (a resident is classified as “Asian” if and only if “Asian” is selected and no other races/ethnicity is selected)
  • Multiracial: “Hispanic or Latino” is not selected and two or more other races/ethnicities are selected

Data are presented for all residents and for each race/ethnicity group with sufficient sample size to report.  Residents without any race/ethnicity category selected are included in all residents but not in any subgroup.

For the equity adjusted metric score, residents are divided into 2 groups: White, and an aggregate grouping of {American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Multiracial}.  The lower performing group (higher percentage of residents with hospital admission) is scored and ranked as a performance metric.

In Vermont, the sample size was not sufficient to score both groups.  The metric value is therefore shown as N/A and the state is not ranked.  The metric value for all nursing home residents is used for calculating dimension-level performance.
Analysis of 2020 MDS 3.0 state-level care data provided by the Changing Long-Term Care in America Project at Brown University in February-April 2023.

Brown University (2023). Changing Long Term Care in America Project at Brown University funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (1P01AG027296). Providence, RI: Brown University School of Public Health, http://ltcfocus.org/.

THE 2023 LTSS STATE SCORECARD IS HERE

See what’s new in this edition…how did your state do?
Explore the LTSS State Scorecard

Stay up to date with LTSS. Receive News and Trends in your Inbox.
Subscribe