CMS will fine hospitals with high readmission rates an estimated total of $428 million in fiscal year 2015, up from $227 million in FY 2014.
CMS will penalize 2,610 hospitals during FY 2015 (the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program's third year)— three quarters of the facilities subject to readmissions penalties under the program, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis. That's up from 2,225 in the program's second year and 2,213 during its first year.
The increase in the overall penalty amount and number of hospitals was partly driven by the addition of two additional conditions — total hip/total knee replacement and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — to the program, in addition to heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia 30-day readmission rates. By law, CMS has also increased the maximum penalty from 2 percent to 3 percent for FY 2015. Thirty-nine hospitals will see their Medicare payments cut by the maximum amount of 3 percent, according to Kaiser. The average penalty has risen from 0.38 percent last year to 0.63 percent this year, the analysis found.
The agency included a table of final FY 2015 HRR Program payment adjustment factors in a correction notice for the FY 2015 Inpatient and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System final rule. The notice also contains various technical corrections to calculations of hospital operating and capital rates. The payment reductions will apply to hospital discharges from Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015.
More articles on hospital readmissions:
Which cities have highest hospital readmission rates?
House members send letter to CMS addressing readmission penalties
Reducing readmissions to reduce penalties: Where to begin?