Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized By Medicare?

By Jordan Rau

August 3, 2023

<br /> <span class="byline">Jordan Rau, KFF Health News</span></p> <aside class="related related-slab related-toggle pull-right"> <div class="slab default-slab "> <div class="slab-container"> <div class="slab-content"> <p>Under programs set up by the Affordable Care Act, the federal government cuts payments to hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and those with the highest numbers of infections and patient injuries. For the <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/medicare-eases-readmissions-penalties-against-safety-net-hospitals/" rel="noopener">readmission penalties</a>, Medicare cuts as much as 3 percent for each patient, although the average is generally much lower. The <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/medicare-trims-payments-to-800-hospitals-citing-patient-safety-incidents" rel="noopener">patient safety penalties</a> cost hospitals 1 percent of Medicare payments over the federal fiscal year, which runs from October through September. Maryland hospitals are exempted from penalties because that state has a separate payment arrangement with Medicare.</p> <p>Below are look-up tools for each type of penalty. You can search by hospital name or location, look at all hospitals in a particular state and sort penalties by fiscal year. (Note: CMS waived HAC penalties for 2023 because of the public health emergency but they are being reinstituted for 2024.)</p> </p></div> </div> <p><!--/.slab-container --> </div> </aside> <p>Under programs set up by the Affordable Care Act, the federal government cuts payments to hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and those with the highest numbers of infections and patient injuries. For the <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/medicare-eases-readmissions-penalties-against-safety-net-hospitals/" rel="noopener">readmission penalties</a>, Medicare cuts as much as 3 percent for each patient, although the average is generally much lower. The <a target="_blank" href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/medicare-trims-payments-to-800-hospitals-citing-patient-safety-incidents" rel="noopener">patient safety penalties</a> cost hospitals 1 percent of Medicare payments over the federal fiscal year, which runs from October through September. Maryland hospitals are exempted from penalties because that state has a separate payment arrangement with Medicare.</p> <p>Below are look-up tools for each type of penalty. You can search by hospital name or location, look at all hospitals in a particular state and sort penalties by fiscal year. (Note: CMS waived HAC penalties for 2023 because of the public health emergency but they are being reinstituted for 2024.)</p> <p>
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