Medicare readmissions

Federal officials said they are penalizing 2,273 hospitals, the fewest since the fiscal year that ended in September 2014. Driving the decline was a change in the formula to compensate for the chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The penalized hospitals will lose 1% of their Medicare payments for 12 months. The penalties started in October and run through September, following the federal fiscal year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will penalize 2,583 hospitals nationwide for having too many Medicare patients readmitted within 30 days,…