Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations Declining for Older Adults

Hypertension. The rates of potentially preventable hospital stays in 2007 related to hypertension were much lower for older adults (4.3 discharges per 10,000 younger adults and 16.6 discharges per 10,000 older adults) and angina without procedure (2.2 discharges per 10,000 younger adults and 7.6 discharges per 10,000 older adults).

Acute conditions. Among older adults, the rate of hospitalizations for acute conditions declined by 10% between 2003 and 2007. Bacterial pneumonia contributed in large part to this change—dropping from 179.2 discharges per 10,000 population to 149.8 discharges per 10,000 population. Bacterial pneumonia was the acute condition with the highest rate of hospitalizations among both younger and older adults (16.9 and 149.8 discharges per 10,000 population).