News: Hospital Readmission Reduction Program comes with increased mortality rates, study says

A recent study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine analyzed the effect of the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) on hospital mortality and found that each 1% decrease in readmission rate was associated with a 0.04% increase in mortality. Hospitals with lower readmission rates had higher mortality rates over time, according to the study.

The HRRP has been proven to reduce the 30-day readmission rates for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) across hospitals. The study assessed the relation between hospital readmissions and mortality rates for patients discharged with acute exacerbation of COPD

The readmission data for COPD patients was culled from Hospital Compare and the hospital service area information was taken from the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare. The data was examined over a seven-year period from 2010 to 2017 and contained information from 3,685 hospitals.

The study concluded that although the 30-day readmission rates declined over that seven year period, mortality rates increased.

Editor’s note: To read the Journal of Hospital Medicine study, click here.