Reviewing effort to reduce hospital readmissions

Kaiser Health News reported some general statistics about Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reductions Program (HRRP), which was a program meant to curb unnecessary hospital readmissions by collecting statistics and rewarding top performers while penalizing underperforming hospitals. Hospitals could lose up to a maximum of 3% of their Medicare reimbursements, which can be rather significant given that the typical hospital operates on thin margins. Some good news is that hospital readmissions have declined over the years.

One figure that sounds rather alarming is that 1,288 hospitals out of the eligible 3,139 hospitals have been punished each of the 10 years of the program. In other words, 41% of the eligible hospitals in this program have never changed their processes enough to avoid the penalty. The high percentage raises the question as to whether the financial penalties should be stronger, or whether some hospitals could benefit from new leadership, or potentially, whether there is something wrong with the rating criteria.