RT Journal
A1 Williams MV
T1 A requirement to reduce readmissions: Take care of the patient, not just the disease
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2013
FD January 23
VO 309
IS 4
SP 394
OP 396
DO 10.1001/jama.2012.233964
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.233964
AB 
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program initiated a seismic shift in US hospitals' attitudes toward coordinating transitions of care.1 Effective October 2012, more than 2000 hospitals began losing money (national total of ~ $300 million the first year) to financial penalties for excess readmissions,2 and this penalty could triple for some hospitals by 2014 under provisions stipulated by §3025 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This program aims to slow growth in hospital inpatient costs (a quarter of the more than half trillion dollars in annual Medicare expenditures) and increase the value of medical care delivered to its beneficiaries. Despite representing less than 0.1% of the overall CMS budget, these penalties for excess readmissions of patients discharged after hospitalizations for heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, or pneumonia are driving change across the United States.