Keywords: depression, readmission
Background Medicare penalizes hospitals for unplanned 30-day readmission for select conditions. Research suggests depression may be associated with readmission, but medical staff may not identify previous depression. We assessed the relationship between diagnostic concordance (DC) across outpatient (OP) and inpatient (IP) settings and 30-day readmission. Methods We used South Carolina administrative claims for all hospitalizations, 2013–2015; we restricted to Medicaid recipients, aged 55+ years with select conditions (n=8,621). DC was determined in IP records using secondary diagnosis codes and in OP records using primary or secondary diagnosis codes. Log-binomial regression models were used. Results The level of agreement between IP and OP depression was poor. Patients with history of depression not identified in IP had 30-day readmission rate of 8.0%, adjusted relative risk 1.42 (p=0.001). DC patients with depression had lower readmission rate, but not statistically significant. Conclusion Improving DC for depression may reduce an untimely hospital readmission. Small sample among DC with depression may explain lack of significance; however, additional research is needed.