AdventHealth DeLand is an acute-care hospital based in Central Florida. Like many acute-care hospitals, DeLand experiences hundreds of hospital readmissions annually that are linked to poor care plan adherence. To drive down these 30-day readmissions, DeLand partnered with Wellth on a medication adherence rewards program for post-discharge patients.
Background
AdventHealth DeLand is an acute care hospital that experiences over 8,000 discharges annually. In 2019, DeLand engaged Wellth to help reduce their Medicare Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) penalty, which was due to excessive 30-day hospital readmissions. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program was launched by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2012 with a goal of improving the quality of healthcare provided by hospitals. Medicare payments made by CMS to hospitals are adjusted annually based on their 30-day readmission rate for the following six conditions:
- Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI)
- Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD)
- Pneumonia (PN)
- Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG)
- Elective Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty (THA/TKA)
Hospitals can lose up to 3% of their Medicare payments annually due to the HRRP penalty; in Performance Year 2017, AdventHealth DeLand had an annual Medicare HRRP penalty of approximately $183,000 and AdventHealth network had an aggregate annual HRRP penalty of over $8 million. For more information on HRRP visit
CMS.gov.