The hospital readmission rate policy is a healthcare policy seeking to limit readmission rates of patients back to the hospital soon after discharge. Nearly, one out of every five patients return to the hospital within thirty days after discharge. The government considered the high readmission rates as signs of an unnecessarily expensive healthcare system with poor coordination. With lower readmission rates, healthcare will be less expensive, and medical institutions will provide quality medical care to avoid readmissions soon after discharge.
The readmission policy in Arkansas seeks to address two major healthcare drivers which are the quality and cost of healthcare. Healthcare units have to provide quality healthcare to patients to cut down readmission rates. Some medical facilities provide substandard care so that patients get readmitted thus helping these facilities to make enormous profits. The policy will also help cut down the costs of treatment by reducing the rates of readmission.
The healthcare policy seems to be achieving its intended results because Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have begun penalizing medical institutions with high readmission rates. The hospital readmission program requires CMS to reduce payments to hospitals with high readmission rates, effective from October 2012. Hospitals with high readmission rates forfeited 280 million dollars worth of Medicare funds. Hospitals have complied with the policy as required to avoid the huge losses.
The effects of the policy on healthcare have been majorly positive. Healthcare costs have reduced due to low readmission rates. Hospitals have begun providing quality care to patients in a bid to lower chances of readmission back to the hospital. Therefore, the quality of healthcare has improved, and the cost of treatment has gone down.
The policy has affected my nursing practice in several ways. The most important of them is that I always have to treat my patients very well and make sure that I have diagnosed the right illnesses and issued the right medications to avoid readmission. I, therefore, make sure that the quality of treatment to my patients is always of high quality.
References:
Mason, D. J., Leavitt, J. K., & Chaffee, M. W. (2014). Policy & politics in nursing and health care.
KHN: Kaiser Health News. (n.d.). Medicare To Penalize 2,217 Hospitals For Excess Readmissions. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2012/august/13/medicare-hospitals- readmissions- penalties.aspx
Readmissions Reduction Program. (n.d.). - Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Retrieved October 14, 2014, from http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service- Payment/AcuteInpatientPPS/Readmissions-Reduction-Program.html
