This is one of the few GOOD things in ACA. Hospitals have been doing a crap job on outcomes, sending someone to work with a person to get them strong after a surgery or and long stay is the kind of thing W. Edward Demming suggested 30 years ago. Hospitals should be on notice from insurance and patients that bad work is their responsibility and they pay to make things right.
May I suggest you read and try to understand-The Happy Hospitalist Medicare-—this will give you and idea of what is coming to you and your loved ones if you live to 65. ACA is a population control for older people..You will not get the care or the medicine you need as you get to the age when you will be the sickest time of your life....
That might be true if the hospital foots the bill. Instead, they skimp on the care. They do not make things right. Instead they discharge too soon and then when the patient returns deathly ill, they call it observation and bill the patient, per the article.
I ran an adult foster care 25 years ago and at the time “Diagnostic Related Groups - DRG’s” were a recent “improvement” to Medicare to hold down costs. DRG’s average out the amount of time it should take for a hospital stay based on the presenting condition - heart attack, 15 days; stroke 10 (not necessarily the right number of days, just an example for clarity).
If the hospital discharged quicker, they got to keep the money saved, if slower, they had to pay for the care and were not reimbursed.
As a result, foster cares were getting people who were not ready to be discharged, so that the hospital could keep the difference. This new penalty for readmission will exacerbate the problem, not fix it. But the system will have money to pay for illegals, so I guess it’s all good - sarcasm off.