The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program—Targeting Weaknesses and Finding the Readmission Floor

Readmission rate is an increasingly relied-on quality metric, drawing the focus of clinicians, hospitals, and oversight agencies. Initial efforts of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) led to readmission reduction for targeted medical diagnoses (eg, congestive heart failure) but also demonstrated a striking spillover to nontargeted diagnoses.¹ This led to anticipation that improvements in discharge infrastructure would be the rising tide that lifts all boats, causing across-the-board readmission reductions.