Although the aim of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program — improving care and care coordination to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations — is admirable, the program itself is not without its issues, according to The Center for Health Affairs' "September 2015 Policy Snapshot."
As the Northeast Ohio hospital association, The Center for Health Affairs aims to boost the effectiveness of the healthcare community by providing expertise, resources and solutions to address the challenges faced by the region's healthcare providers.
In its most recent policy snapshot, The Center for Health Affairs evaluated the efforts of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and identified three drawbacks of the program, highlighted below.
1. When determining penalties, readmission that are unrelated to the initial hospitalization are included under the program. This means hospitals can be penalized for a readmission that is in no way connected to the hospital's patient care or transition planning.
2. The time periods used to calculate excess readmissions are dated. The program bases hospital penalties on their performance during a three-year time period, meaning hospitals can incur penalties despite having achieved improvements in the 18 months prior to the penalty.
3. Key sociodemographic factors that are outside of the hospital's control — such as race, ethnicity, education, income and payer — are not included in the program's risk adjustment, which could result in penalties that disproportionately affect hospitals that provide care to patients of low socioeconomic status.
To read the full "September 2015 Policy Snapshot," click here.
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