Medicare Fines 2,610 Hospitals In Third Round Of Readmission Penalties

This Kaiser Health News article provides an update on the status of hospital performance as Year 3 of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program begins. Updated statistics show that in Year 3, 2,610 hospitals will be fined an estimated $428 million dollars under HRRP. Thirty-nine hospitals will receive the highest fine, 3% of all Medicare patient payments. The article addresses the Year 3 inclusion of COPD and elective knee and hip replacements to the list of penalizable conditions and includes a sample of hospital reactions to the program and its impact. Of interest to some PRAXIS users will be the ability to download HRRP data sets as well as view data by state (see links at end of article).