Association between hospital penalty status under the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program and readmission rates for target and nontarget conditions.
This retrospective analysis of Medicare claims data found that the decrease in readmissions following the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program occurred across target conditions and other diagnoses. Hospitals penalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had greater reductions in readmissions for the targeted conditions. These results support the effectiveness of the nonpayment policy.