Has the Affordable Care Act Affected Hospital Readmissions?

In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) began to apply financial penalties to hospitals for higher than expected 30-day hospital readmission rates for targeted clinical conditions (acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia). Investigators used an interrupted time series design and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) data from 2007 through 2015 to evaluate >52 million hospital stays in 3387 U.S. hospitals and their associated 30-day hospital readmission rates.

Annual readmission rates declined throughout the study period; however, a significantly faster decline in hospital readmission rates began in 2010 for both ACA-targeted and ACA-nontargeted conditions. Rates of readmissions declined faster for targeted condition…