Medicare readmissions reduction program Archives - Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania

Medicare Readmissions Down Almost Everywhere

Hospitals in 49 of the 50 states have reduced their Medicare readmissions since the federal health care program introduced its readmissions reduction program in 2010.
Only hospitals in Vermont have failed to cut readmissions.
Nationally, readmissions fell more than five percent in 43 states and more than ten percent in 11 states. Overall, readmissions fell 100,000 in 2015 alone compared to 2010 and have fallen 565,000 since 2010.
As the program ages more medical conditions are being subjected to the readmissions reduction program’s requirements. In the coming year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates it will penalize 2500 hospitals $538 million for failing to reduce their readmissions.
Learn more about CMS’s efforts to reduce readmissions among Medicare patients in this entry on the CMS Blog.

PA Safety Net Admin2016-09-22T06:00:36+00:00September 22nd, 2016|Medicare, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Hospitals, Especially Safety-Net Hospitals, Struggle With Heart Failure Readmissions

For all the emphasis on reducing readmissions to hospitals, providers continue to struggle to prevent readmissions of patients suffering heart failure.
Or so concludes a new study published in the Journal of Cardiac Failure.
According to the study, there has been only a slight reduction in readmissions rates for heart failure patients over the past four years.
In addition, Fierce Healthcare reports that

…2014 research revealed that safety-net hospitals and those with largely low-income patient populations are at particular risk for heart failure readmissions; patients from lower-income neighborhoods, researchers found, were nearly 17 percent more likely to be readmitted within six months of discharge.

This finding supports the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania’s long-time contention that the distinct challenges Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals face in serving their especially low-income, medically challenged communities speak to the need for public policy that reflects those special challenges.
To learn more about this issue, see this Fierce Healthcare report.

PA Safety Net Admin2015-10-02T06:00:12+00:00October 2nd, 2015|Medicare, Uncategorized|Comments Off

New Medicare Readmissions Policy to Hit Safety-Net Hospitals Hardest

A new Medicare reimbursement policy that will penalize hospitals financially for readmitting patients within 30 days of discharge will have a disproportionate impact on hospitals that care for large numbers of low-income patients.
According to an analysis by Kaiser Health News, hospitals that treat significant numbers of low-income patients – those eligible for Medicare disproportionate share (DSH) payments – are more likely to be penalized by Medicare than other hospitals. Those that serve the most poor patients are twice as likely to suffer the maximum Medicare penalty as those that care for the fewest low-income patients.
The penalties apply to patients readmitted after suffering pneumonia, heart attacks, and heart failure.
The new Medicare readmissions reduction program poses a particular challenge for Pennsylvania’s safety-net hospitals, such as those that belong to the Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP), because so many of their patients have additional medical problems and often have difficulties following post-discharge instructions and getting and paying for follow-up care.
Read more about the new Medicare reimbursement program and the Kaiser analysis in this Kaiser Health News report Hospital building .

PA Safety Net Admin2012-08-24T06:00:45+00:00August 24th, 2012|Health care reform, Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania|Comments Off

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