Studies thus disagree on how many readmissions within 30 days of discharge are actually preventable. Some say almost none, some say almost all. In 2009, Medicare and Medicaid tried to shame hospitals into doing better by posting readmission rates; that didn't do much, and now fines are imposed. Hospitals' efforts to eliminate some of their worst habits have indeed led to modest improvements. (For comic relief, it should be noted that a few of these strategies backfired and raised readmission rates, possibly because they helped outpatient providers see clearly just how sick their discharged patients were.)
