According to data from Kaiser Health News, four out of five hospitals in Georgia will be penalized by Medicare due to excessively high readmission rates. Nationwide, over 2,500 hospitals are being penalized in this fashion, which could result in payment cuts by as much as three percent.

The main findings of this report are as follows:

• Only 21% (18) of the Georgia hospitals evaluated had no penalties.
• Over 40% of Georgia hospitals evaluated had higher penalties due to increased readmission rates.
• The average penalty will be 0.73% of each payment Medicare makes for a patient.

As this data shows, many hospitals in Georgia still have many steps to take in improving readmission rates. Reducing these rates will result in decreased penalties, and decreased overall costs associated with readmitted patients. Therefore, Georgia hospitals must continue to focus on decreasing readmission rates in the coming years.

For more information on patient readmission rates nationwide, check out the full article here.