A new study suggests hospitals that receive penalties for their 30-day Medicare readmission numbers often have a limited ability to solve the problem.
The Affordable Care Act’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) has targeted providers with incentives meant to reduce the rate of avoidable readmissions, in a bid to reduce overall healthcare costs. While some studies have linked penalty payments to lower readmission rates, questions remain regarding whether those lower rates have a measurable effect on improved outcomes, per previous reporting by FierceHealthcare.