Oct 22, 2013: Reducing readmissions has long been a key priority for hospitals, and now that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has begun levying penalties for readmissions, it's more important than ever. In the first round of penalties, nearly 300 hospitals were penalized 1 percent of their base Medicare payments, the maximum fine, and two-thirds of U.S. hospitals will see payment reductions in the coming year.

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Patients' failure to take prescribed medication is estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system as much as $300 billion a year.