Special Bulletin
The AHA today released a new report highlighting numerous commercial health insurer policies that compromise patient safety and raise costs.
Reducing readmissions is an important way to improve quality and lower health care spending. Hospitals are making significant progress; as reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the national readmission rate fell to 17.5 percent in 2013, after holding steady at around 19 to 19.5 percent for many years.1 However, reducing readmissions is a complex undertaking because not all readmissions can or should be prevented; indeed, some are planned as part of sound clinical care.