Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program

Mortality Doesn’t Go Up When Readmissions Come Down

The emphasis in recent years on reducing hospital readmissions has not resulted in an increase in post-discharge deaths among Medicare patients. Or so concludes a new study published in JAMA. Looking at outcomes associated with Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program, the study “Association of Changing Hospital Readmission Rates With Mortality Rates After Hospital Discharge” found that … of more than 5 million Medicare fee-for-service hospitalizations for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, and pneumonia from 2008 to 2014, reductions in hospital 30-day readmission rates were weakly but significantly correlated with reductions in 30-day mortality rates after hospital discharge. Learn more about [...]

iqtsupport2017-07-19T15:21:29-04:00July 19, 2017|Medicare|

Programs, Not Penalties, Drive Readmission Reductions

Participating in federal value-based payment programs does more to reduce hospital readmissions than penalties levied on hospitals with too many readmissions. Or so reports a new study published by JAMA Internal Medicine. According to the study, hospitals that participated in one or more of three Medicare value-based payment programs – its meaningful use of electronic health records program, the bundled payment for care initiative, or an accountable care organization (ACO) program – enjoyed bigger decreases in their avoidable Medicare readmissions than hospitals that participated in no such programs but were only subject to financial penalties levied under the Medicare hospital [...]

iqtsupport2017-04-18T06:00:36-04:00April 18, 2017|Accountable Care Organization, health care reform, hospitals|

Medicare Program Reduced Readmissions

Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program has resulted in a reduction of avoidable hospital readmissions. Or so concludes a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. According to the study, which included an analysis of 15 million patient discharges beween 2000 and 2013, readmissions declined after Medicare introduced the program and the hospitals with the poorest performance prior to the program’s launch experienced the greatest improvement in reducing avoidable readmissions. To learn more, read the study “Readmission Rates After Passage of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program: A Pre–Post Analysis” here, on the web site of the Annals of Internal [...]

iqtsupport2017-01-06T06:00:49-05:00January 6, 2017|Medicare|