The independent agency that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues has urged the administration to revise the Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program to adjust for the socio-economic status of the patients different hospitals serve.

In a May 31 letter to CMS acting administrator Andrew Slavitt as part of broader comments on Medicare’s proposed FY 2017 inpatient prospective payment system regulation, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reminded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that

… our June 2013 report discussed evaluating hospital readmission rates against a group of peer hospitals with a similar share of low-income Medicare beneficiaries as a way to adjust readmission penalties for socioeconomic status.

NAUH has long urged CMS to add socio-economic risk adjustment to Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program to reflect the more challenging nature of the patients private safety-net hospitals serve.

See the entire MedPAC letter to CMS here.