Effect of hospital-wide measure of readmissions for HRRP

Editor's Note

Changing to a hospital-wide measure of readmissions for the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) would result in only 76 more hospitals being eligible to receive penalties, but it would substantially increase the penalties for safety-net hospitals, this study finds.

For the analysis, researchers used Medicare claims from 2011 to 2013, including 6,807,899 admissions for the hospital-wide measure and 4,392,658 admissions for the conditions-specific measures.

Policy makers have shown interest in moving to a hospital-wide measure of readmissions for HRRP, which was established as part of the Affordable Care Act, to broaden hospital eligibility and provide incentives for improvement across more conditions. 

The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program penalizes hospitals that have high 30-day readmission rates across specific conditions. There is support for changing to a hospital-wide readmission measure to broaden hospital eligibility and provide incentives for improvement across more conditions.

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