Regression to the Mean in the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Excess 30-day readmissions have declined substantially in hospitals initially penalized for high readmission rates under the Medicare Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP). Although a possible explanation is that the policy incentivized penalized hospitals to improve care processes, another is regression to the mean (RTM), a statistical phenomenon that predicts entities farther from the mean in one period are likely to fall closer to the mean in subsequent (or preceding) periods owing to random chance.

Objective

To quantify the contribution of RTM to declining readmission rates at hospitals initially penalized under the HRRP.

Design, setting, and participants

This study analyzed data from Medicare Provider and Analysis Review files to assess change

SUBMITTER: Joshi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6596330 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature