For Medicare patients, a study published in JAMA found no evidence for an increase in in-hospital or post-discharge mortality linked to the implementation of CMS' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.
CMS introduced the program in 2010 to reduce early readmissions after hospitalization for common medical conditions.
The researchers analyzed mortality rates among Medicare patients hospitalized for heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia to examine the effect of the readmissions reduction program.
The study found that between 2006 and 2014, in-hospital mortality decreased from 10.4 percent to 9.7 percent for heart attacks, from 4.3 percent to 3.5 percent for heart failure and from 5.3 percent to 4 percent for pneumonia.
In the same period, 30-day post-discharge mortality decreased for heart attacks and increased for heart failure and pneumonia, but the study authors said those increases were not linked to the readmissions reduction program.