Medicare to penalize 29 Minnesota hospitals for readmission rate

Medicare will penalize about half of Minnesota's hospitals for readmitting patients too soon after discharge, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis.

The Obama administration considers readmissions within 30 days a sign that a hospital could better coordinate a patient's care before, during and after discharge. The national average is 66 percent of all medical centers.

At least 29 Minnesota hospitals will have to forfeit a small fraction of their Medicare reimbursement funding as part of a federal health care law program to clamp down on Medicare costs. It's the second year of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.

The second year's penalties in Minnesota range from 0.01 percent for Regions Hospital in St. Paul to 1.51 percent for Fairmont Medical Center in Fairmont. Other hospitals include:

Winona Health Services, 0.22 percent
Austin Medical Center, 0.22 percent
Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids 0.14 percent
Park Nicollet in St. Louis Park 0.10 percent

Out of 52 hospitals on the Minnesota list, 23 had no penalty and 20 saw their penalties decrease.