Voluntary value-based health programs dramatically reduce hospital readmissions

ANN ARBOR'When it comes to programs that improve quality and cost in hospitals new research from the University of Michigan finds a carrot is indeed better than a stick. Participation in one or more voluntary value-based health care programs had a greater impact on keeping patients from returning to the hospital within 30 days for three common diagnoses than the government's mandatory program that penalizes acute care facilities for high readmission rates, U-M researchers found. In fact, when looking at the combined impact of the three voluntary programs to improve hospital quality and value, researchers found 2,400 fewer people out of nearly 275,000 heading back to the hospital, and a savings in 2015 of $32 million from reduced readmissions. The three value-based reforms are the Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records program, the Accountable Care Organization programs and the Bundled Payment for Care Initiative. "This, to us, was encouraging and makes us think there is a reason to believe these value programs are reinforcing the broader push to value-based care," said lead author Andrew Ryan, associate professor in the School of Public Health Department of Health Management and Policy. "Our findings show the importance of a multi-pronged Medicare strategy to improve quality and value." The research is featured in the April online issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine. The researchers tracked patients from 2,877 hospitals that received care from 2008 to 2015 for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure and pneumonia.