Association Between Financial Incentives in Medicare's Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and Hospital Readmission Performance

Key Points Question Are financial incentives from Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program associated with hospital readmission performance? Findings This cohort study using Medicare performance data from 2823 hospitals from 2016 to 2019 found that hospitals with greater incentives for readmission avoidance had larger decreases in excess readmission, whereas hospitals with no incentives had increases in excess readmissions across Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program–targeted conditions. Meaning The findings suggest that the penalty incentives in the readmissions program were associated with improvements in readmission avoidance.