Readmissions by Ethnicity

Leaders at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) recognize the importance of identifying and addressing obstacles to health care delivery including social determinants, discrimination, bias and their consequences in advancing better health outcomes.

Providing consistent, high-quality care and high-quality outcomes without discrimination is essential to LVHN’s mission to heal, comfort and care for our community. We aim to provide the highest level of care in a comfortable and trusted environment.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services defines a readmission as an admission to a hospital within 30 days of discharge from the same or another hospital. Readmission metrics are important to monitor because they help improve communication and care coordination. They also encourage hospitals to better engage patients and caregivers in post-discharge planning to reduce avoidable readmissions.

LVHN Readmissions by Ethnicity FY2023
LVHN Readmission by Ethnicity FY2023. Click to enlarge.

LVHN proactively monitors readmission rates and analyzes data grouped by several demographic categories to help recognize any disparities in care. This table is an example of some of the data and dashboards available. This data illustrates that patients who self-identify as Puerto Rican ethnicity had the highest hospital readmission rates in the network’s fiscal year 2023, while patients who identified as non-Hispanic ethnicity have the highest hospital readmission rates in the network’s current 2024 fiscal year. This provides direction for LVHN to take a closer look, identify opportunities and address any obstacles identified for this patient population.