Mental Health Readmissions to Hospital/28 Day Readmission Rate
Identifying Attributes
Care Settings
Country
Publishing Organisation
Type of Quality Indicator
IOM Quality Dimension
Domain
Defining Attributes
Definition
Proportion of in-scope overnight separations from the mental health service organisation's acute psychiatric inpatient units that are followed by readmission to the same or to another public sector acute psychiatric inpatient unit within 28 days of discharge.
Numerator
Number of in-scope overnight separations from the mental health service organisation's acute psychiatric inpatient unit(s) occurring within the reference period, that are followed by a readmission to the same or another acute psychiatric inpatient unit within 28 days.
Denominator
Number of in-scope overnight separations from the mental health service organisation's acute psychiatric inpatient unit(s) occurring within the reference period.
Exclusions
Same-day separations; Statistical and change of care type separations; Separations that end by transfer to another acute or psychiatric hospital; Separations that end in death; Separations where the length of stay is one night only and a procedure code for Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is recorded.
Use of Risk Adjustment
Risk Adjustments
None
Stratifications
Age, sex, Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), remoteness, Indigenous status.
Data Attributes
Type of Data Collection
Data Collection Methods
State/territory admitted patient data. This indicator cannot be accurately constructed using the Admitted Patient Care National Minimum Data Set (NMDS). While the data set comprehensively provides a collection of separations from Australian public hospitals, its inability to uniquely identify a patient across episodes and across hospitals limits its capacity to count readmissions. There is no proxy solution available. In order to report this indicator at a national level, states and territories are required to individually provide separate indicator data. A reliable system of patient identifiers within the Admitted Patient Care NMDS is required to enable unique identification of individual consumers across multiple years, multiple admitted episodes and multiple hospitals.
Frequency of Data Collection
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
Reporting Methods
Reported in Report on Government Services and progress of the Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan.
Reporting Frequency
Reporting Frequency in Days
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
Source and Reference Attributes
Evidence Source
meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/753238 The Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, page 61: web.archive.org/web/20240127195701/https://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/getmedia/0209d27b-1873-4245-b6e5-49e770084b81/Fifth-National-Mental-Health-and-Suicide-Prevention-Plan.pdf Reported on www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2023/health/services-for-mental-health www.mentalhealthcommission.gov.au/monitoring-and-reporting/fifth-plan
Technical Specifications
National Mental Health Performance Subcommittee 2013. Key Performance Indicators for Australian Public Mental Health Services, 3rd edn. Canberra: NMHPC. www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/f9bb1a07-a43b-458a-9b73-64ef19d8aedd/Key-Performance-Indicators-for-Australian-Public-Mental-Health-Services-Third-Edition.pdf.aspx