In the United States the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) is a Medicare value-based purchasing program that encourages hospitals to improve communication and care coordination to better engage patients and caregivers in discharge plans and, in turn, reduce avoidable readmissions [1]. The program supports the national goal of improving health care for Americans by linking payment to the quality of hospital care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) includes the following six condition or procedure-specific 30-day risk-standardized unplanned readmission measures in the program: Acute Myocardial Infarction, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Heart Failure, Pneumonia, Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery, Elective Primary Hip and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty.
