Lowering Readmission Rates Could Lower Healthcare Costs

The Indianapolis Star (10/9, Groppe) reports, "One in five Medicare patients returns to the hospital within a month of being discharged, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which released hospitals' readmission rates this summer."

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "The President and Congress have both identified the reduction of readmissions as a target area for health reform. ... When we reduce readmissions, we improve the quality of care patients receive and cut healthcare costs."

CMS' chief of clinical standards and quality Barry Straube pointed out that "heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia patients shuttling back and forth to hospitals account for 46 percent of hospital admissions and cost Medicare roughly $17 billion a year." Current health overhaul legislation in the House and Senate hopes to lower these rates by reducing Medicare payments to hospitals with high readmission rates.