Readmission Penalties Set to Take Effect

Arndt attended the invitation-only HealthLeaders Media CFO Exchange last week in Kiawah Island, SC, to discuss topics such as readmissions rates, cost reduction, and mergers and acquisitions with some of the nation's top healthcare financial leaders.

"When you involve patients and families more in the process and there's more education pre-discharge, it goes a long way [toward preventing a readmission]. We also embrace the concept that a discharge is not a discharge, but the next step in the transition into the continuum of care. We stay connected with the patient when they leave the hospital," adds Arndt.

Patient-centered care and care coordination programs have sprouted at many hospitals nationwide, though at some hospitals the initiatives came after CMS began tracking readmission rates.

For the last few years the federal government has been gathering readmissions data on hospitals nationally, in an effort to decrease the 19% national average readmissions rate.