HEALTHCARE/MEDICARE/OBAMACARE(ACA): “The Affordable Care Act required Medicare to penalize hospitals with high numbers of heart failure patients who returned for treatment shortly after discharge. New research shows that penalty was associated with fewer readmissions, but also higher rates of death among that patient group.
The researchers said the study results, being published in JAMA Cardiology, can’t show cause and effect, but ‘support the possibility that the [penalty] has had the unintended consequence of increased mortality in patients hospitalized with heart failure.’
Few studies have looked at the possible unintended consequences under the penalty, which went into effect in October 2012 under a broad push by Medicare to pay hospitals based on how well they care for patients, not strictly on the volume of care they provide. Lowering readmission rates was seen as a worthy goal for improving patient care during initial admissions and during follow-up care.”
-Melanie Evans, “Fewer Return Visits to the Hospital, but Higher Rates of Death, Study Finds,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 12, 2017 02:30pm