Thirty-Day Readmissions — Truth and Consequences

“As part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to penalize hospitals with ‘worse than expected’ 30-day readmission rates. This part of the law has stimulated hospitals, professional societies, and independent organizations to invest substantial resources in finding and implementing solutions for the ‘readmissions problem.’ Although a focus on readmissions may have good face validity, we believe that policymakers’ emphasis on 30-day readmissions is misguided, for three reasons.”