Hospital readmission penalties seem to have been working as intended, by driving down 30-
day hospital readmissions and saving Medicare roughly $2.3 billion between 2010 and
2016. The unintended consequence, however, was that hospitals serving the poorest of
the poor were the most frequently penalized. Medicare has made changes to mitigate
that, but safety-net hospitals still struggle with reducing hospital readmissions largely attributable to social determinants of care, and they still risk penalties that could push them over the fiscal
edge.
The gradually maturing discipline of affective neuroscience is beginning to showcase emotion as much more than a simple reaction to stimuli. Biologists are beginning to accurately predict behavioral states from emotional databanks. Psychologists are collaborating with technologists and neurologists to define a new wave of behavioral health studies, and the results may affect us sooner than we think.
In the U.S. today, one in four Americans has multiple coexisting chronic conditions. That number rises to three in four Americans at age 65 and older1, or approximately 36 million Medicare eligible patients4, potentially creating a state of multimorbidity6- the co-occurrence of multiple chronic or acute diseases and medical conditions - within one person. The impact of these conditions can go beyond the patient as family members step in to help with even the most basic activities such as bathing, getting dressed or preparing a simple meal. Many times, it can be a challenge to know what’s best for the patient without a plan and direction on how to manage complex medication schedules, doctor visits and the overall burden of the co-occurring conditions.
CMS continues to encourage and financially incentivize providers to implement Medicare chronic care management (CCM) programs. A few big-picture numbers help explain why.
