Hospital readmission penalties reach new high

Editor's Note

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s (CMS) hospital readmission penalties will hit a new high over the next year as the government agency withholds more than half a million dollars in payments, the August 2 Kaiser Health News reports.

CMS will punish more than half of US hospitals for having more readmissions than expected.

Though the number of hospitals penalized is about the same as last year, the penalty will increase by a fifth. The new penalties will take effect in October.

The federal government's readmission penalties on hospitals will reach a new high as Medicare withholds more than half a billion dollars in payments over the next year, records released Tuesday show. The government will punish more than half of the nation's hospitals - a total of 2,597 - having more patients than expected return within a month.