Hospitals Lost $420 million in Readmissions Penalties This Year

Kaiser Health News recently released an analysis on The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program penalties for its fourth year. Here are some key findings from the report:

·         Starting in October, 2,592 hospitals will receive lower payments for every Medicare patient.

·         These hospitals lost a combined $420 million due to the readmissions penalties.

·         All but 209 of the hospitals penalized in this round were also punished last year.

·         The average Medicare payment reduction is 0.61% per patient stay.

·         38 hospitals will receive the maximum penalty of 3% per patient stay.

·         Medicare will provide financial incentives worth $1.5 billion to high-performing hospitals starting in October.

Source: Kaiser Health News, August 3, 2015