Hospital readmissions have declined in recent years for three conditions targeted under the Affordable Care Act, with smaller declines for other conditions, according to new research.
The study, published online Feb. 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that 30-day readmission rates declined quickly after the passage of the ACA in 2010 and then slowed at the end of 2012. The researchers also analyzed trends in the use of observation units during the same period and concluded that the drop in readmissions was not being masked by a similar uptick in patients being seen under observation status (N Engl J Med. 2016 Feb 24. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1513024).
©Kimberly Pack/Thinkstock.com
Under the ACA’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, hospitals are financially penalized if they have higher-than-expected readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia.
The researchers, led by Rachael B. Zuckerman, M.P.H., of the Department of Health & Human Services, examined Medicare data from 3,387 hospitals from October 2007 through May 2015. Overall readmissions for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia – the three conditions targeted in the readmissions reduction program – dropped from 21.5% to 17.8% during this time period. Readmissions for nontargeted conditions also dropped from 15.3% to 13.1%.
The researchers reported that readmissions for the targeted conditions were already declining before the ACA implementation (slope of monthly rate, –0.017), accelerating between April 2010 and October 2010 (–0.103), then leveling off through 2015 (–0.05). A similar pattern was seen with readmissions for conditions not targeted under the health law, though the declines were less pronounced.
Observation rates for the targeted conditions increased from 2.6% to 4.7% during the study period, while rates for nontargeted conditions rose from 2.5% to 4.2%. The researchers did not observe any significant associations increases in observation-unit stays – which were steady throughout the study period – and the implementation of the ACA.
“It seems likely that the upward trend in observation-service use may be attributable to factors that are largely unrelated to the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, such as confusion over whether an inpatient stay would be deemed inappropriate by Medicare recovery audit contractors,” the researchers wrote.
Though the observational design of the study could not confirm a causal link between the ACA penalties and the drop in readmissions, the findings suggest that the declines are not solely a response to the ACA.
The health law likely “catalyzed behavioral change by many hospitals” that was already underway, possibly because of broader concern about readmissions and to earlier Medicare initiatives designed to reduce them. Also, the investigators noted, hospitals may have been helped by other government efforts on the readmission front, including the dissemination of best practices by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The study was funded by HHS and the researchers were agency employees. They reported having no other financial disclosures.