This is a record number of hospitals penalized under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, now in its third year.
The 2,610 total represents a 433 hospital increase from last year. Hospitals that were penalized will receive lower payments for every Medicare patient stay from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2015, according toKaiser Health News. The fines will total around $428 million and are based on readmissions from July 2010 through June 2013.
A Kaiser Health News analysis shows that in Florida, 148 of the 167 hospitals assessed will pay some fine. St. Vincent’s Medical Center Southside in Jacksonville was issued the largest fine (2.86 percent), followed by St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St. Lucie (2.36 percent), Lake Wales Medical Center (1.97 percent) and Leesburg Regional Medical Center (1.87 percent) and Kendall Regional Medical Center in Miami (1.71 percent). Out of the Florida hospitals that will pay some fine, CMS issued the smallest fine to Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (0.01 percent).
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