Pittsburgh-based insurer Highmark released a statement earlier this week saying the company hopes to reduce hospital readmissions in an attempt to cover the cost of their $25 billion in healthcare spending. Highmark hopes to reduce the number of readmissions by requiring hospitals to increase their efforts to improve the quality of follow-up care and improving patient discharge procedures.
The insurer has estimated that Pennsylvania saw more than 185,000 preventable cases in 2010, making up 12 percent of all readmissions that year. Highmark execs hope that by taking measures against preventable conditions after patient discharge, hospitals can not only improve quality but also cut healthcare costs. --Read the full article from FierceHealthPayer