This Statistical Brief presents data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) on the characteristics of potentially preventable hospitalizations from 2005 through 2011. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Prevention Quality Indicators (PQIs) were used to develop estimates of the number of potentially preventable hospitalizations for overall PQIs, acute PQIs, and chronic PQIs from 2005 through 2011. An earlier Statistical Brief on potentially preventable hospitalizations presented trends from 2005 through 2010 for adults and children. This Statistical Brief is the latest in a series on potentially preventable hospitalizations that have focused on a range of topics that include acute and chronic conditions, individuals who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, older adults, nationwide frequency and costs, racial and ethnic disparities,, and trends among adults and children from 1997–2004. (Seehttp://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb_preventable.jsp for a complete list of Statistical Briefs in this series.)

Rates of hospitalization for acute PQIs were based on admissions for dehydration, bacterial pneumonia, and urinary tract infections. Rates of hospitalization for chronic PQIs were based on admissions for diabetes, angina, congestive heart failure, hypertension, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The rates for potentially preventable hospitalizations are adjusted for age and sex. With respect to geographic characteristics, this Statistical Brief examines geographic region and urban and rural areas using four categories ranging from large metropolitan to remote rural areas. All differences between estimates noted in the text, table, and figures are statistically significant at the 0.05 level or better.