Hospitals recognized on U.S. News & World Report's top 50 orthopedic facilities have a significantly lower likelihood of receiving total hip arthroplasty and total knee arthroplasty readmission penalties, according to a study published in the February issue of Journal of Arthroplasty.
The inpatient prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year 2022 was used to identify 2,286 hospitals subject to the hospital readmissions reduction program.
Overall, six hospital quality rating systems and five hospital characteristics were analyzed to determine the effect on hospital penalties for arthroplasty readmissions.
Among the quality rating systems studied, only the Medicare overall hospital quality star rating and the U.S. News orthopedic hospital rankings were associated with a lower likelihood of penalization. The other rating systems were not associated with readmission penalties. Among hospital characteristics studied, penalization was more likely for hospitals with fewer THA and TKA discharges, medium-sized institutions, teaching hospitals and safety net hospitals. Penalization was less likely for West and Midwest hospitals.