Medicare levies record number of 30-day readmission fines
October 7, 2014
A record number of hospitals were fined by Medicare for having too many 30-day readmissions, according to Healthcare Finance News. The national readmission rate is dropping but average fines will be higher.
The penalties are designed to make hospitals take a more active role in patient discharge plans to ensure that patients aren’t readmitted. In 2013, nearly 18% of hospitalized Medicare patients were readmitted within a month.
The fines are based on readmissions from July 2010 to July 2013. Thirty-nine hospitals that had the highest readmission rates will lose 3% of each payment, an increase from last year’s maximum fine of 2%.
Read the article here.
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