Industry Note:
CMS Ups Readmission Penalties For 1,420 Hospitals
Published on Thu Oct 18, 2012
Hospitals that refer patients to you now might have an even more compelling reason to use home care. CMS made a mistake in calculating the financial penalties hospitals now face for readmitting patients in certain DRGs within 30 days. About 1,420 hospitals with comparatively high readmission rates will lose slightly more money than they were expecting, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of the revised penalties. Fifty-five hospitals will lose less than CMS previously told them.CMS will dock the pay of 2,217 hospitals in the first year of the program, which began Oct. 1, Kaiser notes. Of those, 307 will be docked the maximum amount -- 1 percent.