Reducing rehospitalizations proves to be difficult and costly

Patient Safety Monitor Alert

July 29, 2009

Reducing rehospitalizations has become a national focus as health reform plays out. Readmissions are an easy target because they cost the nation's health system a lot and are often preventable. The Wall Street Journal, however, reports that many facilities that focus on preventing readmissions have often run out of funding for such programs because while the strategies may work, they are not reimbursed by any major health plan or the federal government. Additionally, hospitals are learning that preventing rehospitalization, especially for patients with specific diagnoses, is as much a matter of quality care in the hospital as it is encouraging patients to focus on healthy strategies once they have been discharged.

Some of the proposals for health reform include penalizing hospitals with poor rehospitalization rates. One proposal calls out withholding reimbursement for rehospitalized patients who suffered from a heart attack, heart failure, or pneumonia. Another proposal would penalize hospitals in the top quartile for readmissions with specific conditions.