Study Finds Medicare Incentives Program Effective in Reducing Hospital Readmissions

Hospitals with greater financial incentives for avoiding readmissions have larger decreases in readmissions compared with hospitals with smaller incentives, according to a new AHRQ-funded study published in JAMA Network Open. The finding was consistent across conditions and procedures, with the largest reductions in readmissions for hip and/or knee surgery (5.8 percent) and acute myocardial infarction (3.8 percent), compared with hospitals with no incentives. Conversely, hospitals with no such incentives experienced increases in excess readmissions across five Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program-targeted conditions. The authors reviewed Medicare readmissions data from 2,823 U.S. short-term acute care hospitals participating in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program to compare readmissions between 2016 and 2019. Access the abstract.