Medicare's Pay For Performance Effort Begins, Targeting Quality and Readmissions

Monday is the start of the federal fiscal year, and with it begins Medicare’s biggest effort yet at paying for performance.

Starting Oct. 1, Medicare is withholding 1 percent of its regular hospital reimbursements in the new Value-Based Purchasing Program, which was created by the 2010 health care law. Over the course of the year, money will be returned to some hospitals based on how well they follow clinical guidelines for basic care and how they fare in patient satisfaction surveys. Some hospitals will get back some of the money that was held back, others will break even and some will end up getting extra.

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Source: Kaiser Health News