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Background.

Although patients readmitted to intensive care units (ICUs) typically have poor outcomes, ICU readmission rates have not been studied as a measure of hospital performance.

Objectives.

To determine variation in ICU readmission rates across hospitals and associations of readmission rates with other ICU-based measures of hospital performance.

Research Design.

Observational cohort study.

Subjects.

One hundred three thousand nine hundred eighty four consecutive ICU patients who were admitted to twenty eight hospitals who were then transferred to a hospital ward in those 28 hospitals.

Measures.

Predicted risk of in-hospital death and ICU length of stay (LOS) were determined by a validated method based on age, ICU admission source, diagnosis, comorbidity, and physiologic abnormalities. Severity-adjusted mortality rates, LOS, and readmission rates were determined for each hospital.

Results.

One …