US Counties With the Highest Hospital Readmissions Within 30 Days

2,995 US counties ranked by hospital readmissions within 30 days, from highest to lowest. First are Baker County, GA (41.7), Atkinson County, GA (33.9) and Breathitt County, KY (32.1). The middle one of the 2,995 has 16.8.

What this measures

Of all hospital stays by people in traditional Medicare, the percentage followed by another hospital stay within 30 days. It counts every return, planned or not. Older and sicker patients go back more often, so it reflects who the patients are as well as their care. It is left out where a county had too few stays to publish. Source: CMS Medicare Geographic Variation Public Use File.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

Every state, highest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

More on hospital readmissions within 30 days

• US Counties With the Lowest Hospital Readmissions Within 30 Days
• Hospital readmissions within 30 days by US county: map by year and what it goes with

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.