National Trends in Hospital Readmission Rates among Medicare Fee-for-Service Survivors of Mitral Valve Surgery, 1999-2010

Older patients who undergo mitral valve surgery (MVS) have high 1-year survival rates, but little is known about the experience of survivors. Our objective was to determine trends in 1-year hospital readmission rates and length of stay (LOS) in these individuals. We included 100% of Medicare Fee-for-Service patients ≥65 years of age who underwent MVS between 1999-2010 and survived to 1 year (N = 146,877). We used proportional hazards regression to analyze the post-MVS 1-year readmission rate in each year, mean hospital LOS (after index admission), and readmission rates by subgroups (age, sex, race). The 1-year survival rate among patients undergoing MVS was 81.3%. Among survivors, 49.1% experienced a hospital readmission within 1 year. The post-MVS 1-year readmission rate declined from 1999-2010 (49.5% to 46.9%, P