September 28th, 2011

Reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Hospitals nationwide are making little progress in curbing costly readmissions, according to a report today that labels attempts to address the problem “slow and inconsistent.”

Readmission rates for Medicare patients ages 65 and older within 30 days barely changed from 2004 to 2009, according to the report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project.

The nonprofit organization, which analyzes health care costs, found the national readmission rate after surgery remained 12.7 percent in that period, while rates for pneumonia and other medical conditions increased slightly from 15.9 percent to 16.1 percent.

“For a long-standing problem, not much progress has been made,” said Dr. David C. Goodman, the report’s author and co-principal investigator for the project.

The findings confirm those the Tribune-Review reported this year in the first installment of “Code Green: Bleeding Dollars,” a one-year probe into the nation’s spiraling health care costs. In Pennsylvania, the newspaper reported, hospitals charged more than $1.25 billion in 2009 for readmissions related to infections or complications.

Hospitals lack incentives to cut readmissions, the Trib reported, and in many cases have financial motives to bring patients back.

Find out much more at the Tribune-Review.