Background: Black seniors have historically had higher readmission rates than white seniors, and hospitals that treat more black seniors have been disproportionately penalized the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Consequently, the policy could exacerbate racial disparities. We sought to determine whether, under the HRRP, trends in 30-day post-discharge mortality differed between black and white [...]

Background: Hospital Readmission Reduction Program(HRRP) implemented by CMS as part of Affordable Care Act (ACA) applies financial penalties to hospitals that have higher-than-expected readmission rates for common conditions such as AMI, pneumonia, and HF. CMS extended this program to include COPD for the fiscal year (FY) 2015. While there has been a reduction in readmissions, [...]