Hospital readmissions are costly indicators of the quality of patient care.¹^,2 In 2012, 7% of the US population had a hospital stay, for a total cost of $381 billion,³ and an estimated 1 in 12 adults is readmitted within 30 days, adding $16 billion to health care costs annually.⁴ To address costs and improve care quality, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act established the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. Launched in October 2012, this program ties payments for all Medicare admissions to hospitals’ readmission rates, creating motivation for hospitals to reduce avoidable readmissions.² An estimated one-quarter of all 30-day hospital readmissions are preventable, and many of these can be traced to inadequate postdischarge follow-up.⁵ Timely postdischarge follow-up with a primary care provider (ie, a physician, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, or physician assistant as allowed under state law) can improve care transitions and reduce readmission risk through medication reconciliation, discharge plan review, and patient education.⁶^,7

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