Readmission reduction program fails to show strong results

Partial, early results of a $300 million program to reduce hospital readmissions show that only a small percentage of the agencies produced noteworthy results.

 

The Community-based Care Transition Program (CCTP), which is run by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, offered funding to several community agencies on aging to work with hospitals in an effort to reduce the number of seniors readmitted within a month. Of the 48 agencies studied, only four cut readmissions significantly compared to those in a control group.

 

A possible explanation for the poor results may be the fact the program favored awarding funding to agencies that work with hospitals with high admission rates.