Readmission reduction program has mixed results

Editor's Note

A readmission reduction program for high-risk Medicare patients lowered 30-day readmission rates, but the effect was small and did not achieve the goal set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this study finds.

Of 10,621 patients studied, readmission rates decreased from 21.5% to 19.5% in the target patients and from 21.1% to 21.0% in the control patients, for a relative reduction of 9.3%.

However, the reduction fell short of the CMS goal of reducing readmissions by 20%.

1Section of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 2Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 3Yale Graduate School of Arts and Science, New Haven, Connecticut 4currently with The Joint Commission, Chicago, Illinois 5Section of Cardiology,