CMS says 49 states have reduced 

avoidable hospital readmissions
By Elizabeth Whitman Modern Healthcare

Every state in the U.S. but Vermont has reduced its avoidable hospital readmission rates since 2010, new data released Tuesday by the CMS show. These improvements follow the implementation of various CMS programs and initiatives to improve the quality of care, chief among them the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.

The overall decrease in readmission rates translated to about 100,000 hospital readmissions avoided for Medicare beneficiaries in 2015 alone, and some 565,000 readmissions since 2010.

“The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program is just one part of the Administration's broader strategy to reform the health care system by paying providers for what works, unlocking health care data, and finding new ways to coordinate and integrate care to improve quality,” wrote Dr. Patrick Conway, principal deputy administrator and chief medical officer for the CMS, and Tim Gronniger, the deputy chief of staff for tjhe CMS, in a blog post Tuesday announcing the new data. “The data show that these efforts are working,” they added...Read full article HERE