Medicare has cut payments to 62 Missouri hospitals for having high rates of readmissions, patient infections, and injuries.
Medicare readmission and safety penalties to 62 Missouri hospitals are as much as three percent per patient, but the average is usually much lower.
Kaiser Health News says they are based on Medicare patients who had originally been treated for heart problems, chronic lung disease, pneumonia, and other things.
Medicare began the hospital readmission penalties in 2012. Doctor Karen Joynt Maddox at Washington University in St. Louis says the needle has not moved very far in fixing readmission problems.
