1. How to Download Medicare Hospital Readmission Data

Objective :
The first step of any analysis is getting the right data. In this post, I will show you exactly how to download the official Medicare Hospital Readmission dataset from CMS.gov.

Step 1: Go to the Official Source

Go to data.cms.gov/provider-data/
In the search bar, type “Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program“
Click on the dataset titled Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP)

Step 2: Download the Data

1. On the dataset page, click the Download full dataset button
2. Save the CSV file in your new folder

Step 3: Organize Your Files

1. Create a new folder on your computer named “30-Day Hospital Readmission Analysis”
2. Save the downloaded CSV file inside this folder
3. Rename the file to “Hospital_Readmissions.csv” for easier use

Step 4: Check the Data

Open the CSV file using Excel
Check how many rows and columns it has
Look at the column names — especially columns related to “readmission” and “condition”

Summary
We have successfully downloaded the official Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program dataset and organized our project folder. In the next post, we will learn how to explore this data using SQL — specifically how to understand the structure of the dataset and clean it.

Next Post: 2. Understanding the Medicare Readmission Dataset with SQL