Medicare Readmission Penalties Hit Dozens Of Georgia Hospitals Again

Hospitals can receive Medicare penalties if too many of their patients are readmitted within a month of their discharge. And recently released federal data show that 85 percent of such facilities in Georgia are set to be penalized.

The readmission penalties, created by the Affordable Care Act, have brought increased scrutiny to the care of patients after discharge.

This coming year’s levies, though, reflect a major change in how safety-net hospitals are evaluated. On orders from Congress, Medicare is easing up on its annual readmission penalties on hundreds of hospitals serving the most low-income residents, Kaiser Health News reported.