Commentary: Improving care and cutting costs

Hospital readmissions remain a costly factor in our health care system. In an attempt to reduce health care costs, for the past several years the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has penalized hospitals that have higher-than-expected readmission rates for patients returning to the hospital within the first 30 days after being discharged. For those hospitals that post actual readmission rates greater than their predicted rates, the penalties can be stiff – as much as a three