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. 2014 Jan 1:51:0046958014561635.
doi: 10.1177/0046958014561635. Print 2014.

A news media analysis of the economic and reputational penalties of the hospital readmissions reduction program

Melissa S Winborn  1 , Joyce Alencherril  1 , José A Pagán  2
Affiliations

A news media analysis of the economic and reputational penalties of the hospital readmissions reduction program

Melissa S Winborn et al. Inquiry. .

Abstract

Section 3025 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 established the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), an initiative designed to penalize hospitals with excess 30-day readmissions. This study investigates whether readmission penalties under HRRP impose significant reputational effects on hospitals. Data extracted from 2012 to 2013 news stories suggest that the higher the actual penalty, the higher the perceived cost of the penalty, the more likely it is that hospitals will state they have no control over the low-income patients they serve or that they will describe themselves as safety net providers. The downside of being singled out as a low-quality hospital deserving a relatively high penalty seems to be larger than the upside of being singled out as a high-quality hospital facing a relatively low penalty. Although the financial burden of the penalties seems to be low, hospitals may be reacting to the fact that information about excess readmissions and readmission penalties is being released widely and is scrutinized by the news media and the general public.

Keywords: Medicare; hospital readmissions; news media; penalty; quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Hospital mentioned to have received a high/low penalty by magnitude of the penalty. Source. Authors’ own estimates based on analysis of news stories. Note. CI = confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Health Affairs. http://www.healthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief.php?brief_id=102. Accessed September 20, 2014.
    1. Rau J. Hospitals face pressure from Medicare to avert readmissions. The New York Times. November 26, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/health/hospitals-face-pressure-from-me.... Accessed September 20, 2014.
    1. Rau J. Medicare to penalize 2,217 hospitals for excess readmissions. Kaiser Health News, 2012. http://kaiserhealthnews.org/news/medicare-hospitals-readmissions-penalties/. Accessed November 22, 2014.
    1. Becker GS. Crime and punishment: an economic approach. J Polit Econ. 1968;76 http://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v76y1968-p169.html. Accessed September 20, 2014.
    1. Doyle J. Hospitals Are Punished over Readmissions Barnes-Jewish Gets the Maximum Penalty, Which Cuts Certain Medicare Payments by About $2.2 Million. 3rd ed. St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Post-Dispatch; 2012:A8.

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