Medicare to fine Cheyenne hospital for readmission rate

CHEYENNE - Cheyenne Regional Medical Center faces an estimated $300,000 penalty because too many patients returned within 30 days after being discharged.

The penalty, which will occur in Fiscal Year 2018, is part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

The penalty will be paid from Medicare money hospitals receive each year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sets the bar that determines when readmissions are too high. It will penalize 2,573 hospitals in the United States - about half of them - for having too many readmissions in the 30-day timeframe.

Medicare expects to save about $564 million, according to an article in Kaiser Health News. This is the sixth year that the law has been in place.

Hospitals can lose up to 3 percent per year of their Medicare money if readmissions are too high. The punishment at the Cheyenne hospital represents only 0.71 percent of its Medicare money for one year.