Prevalence and patterns of potentially avoidable hospitalizations in the US long-term care setting.

Objective: We examined the magnitude and related costs of potentially avoidable hospitalizations including re-hospitalizations for long-stay residents in nursing homes.

Design: We conducted our investigation as a retrospective cohort study where the cohort comprised individuals who were eligible for Medicare and had spent at least 120 uninterrupted days in a nursing home in New York State between 2004 and 2007. To conduct the study, we linked the Minimum Data Set, Medicare Provider Assessment File and Provider of Service File.