The New Old Age: Hospitals Stopped Readmitting Medicare Patients So Often. Was That a Good Thing?
Image CreditCraig Frazier It was a well-intended policy. Almost all parties agree on that much. A decade ago, when Medicare beneficiaries were discharged from hospitals, one in five returned within a month. Older people faced the risks of hospitalization all over again: infections, deconditioning, delirium, subsequent nursing home stays. And preventable readmissions were costing Medicare…