Inaugural Readmission Penalties for Total Hip and Total Knee Arthroplasty Procedures Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program

Key Points Question How are the inaugural penalties for surgical readmissions under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services associated with surgical volume and with hospital and patient characteristics? Findings In this case-control study of 143 Florida hospitals, with 2991 readmitted Medicare patients, hospitals with a high volume of elective total hip and total knee arthroplasty procedures had lower, but not significantly different, readmission penalties than those with low volumes of these procedures. No other systematic differences were detected across hospitals or readmitted patients. Meaning It seems that penalties for surgical readmissions under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program may be inversely associated with surgical volume, but this requires validation in a larger, nationwide cohort.