Medicare Readmission Rates Decline Almost 2% Across All Conditions

Potentially preventable Medicare hospital readmission rates declined by nearly 1.9 percentage points across all conditions between 2010 and 2014. The rate dropped from 12.9% in 2010 to 11% in 2014. The drop was attributed to the federal Medicare Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), which launched in 2010. In 2013, the Medicare program began penalizing hospitals with above average readmission rates. The HRRP requires hospitals to report potentially preventable readmissions for heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia.

The statistics were reported in “MedPAC June 2016 Data Book: Health Care Spending & The Medicare Program” by the Medicare Payment Advisory . . .