A project to reengineer discharges reduces 30-day readmission rates

摘要

The problem of hospital readmissions-admissions that occur within 30 days of a patient's discharge-has been a long-standing concern. Since October 2012, the concern has only become more acute: that's when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated the Readmission Reduction Program, reducing payments to hospitals that have more 30-day readmissions for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia than an established standard based on a three-year national average. The program will be expanded over the next several years to include readmissions for other illnesses, and the penalties will become stiffer.