Participating in federal value-based payment programs does more to reduce hospital readmissions than penalties levied on hospitals with too many readmissions.

Or so reports a new study published by JAMA Internal Medicine.

According to the study, hospitals that participated in one or more of three Medicare value-based payment programs ­– its meaningful use of electronic health records program, the bundled payment for care initiative, or an accountable care organization (ACO) program – enjoyed bigger decreases in their avoidable Medicare readmissions than hospitals that participated in no such programs but were only subject to financial penalties levied under the Medicare hospital readmissions reduction program.

The study encompassed more than 2800 hospitals.

Learn more about these findings in this Fierce Healthcare article or go here, to the JAMA Internal Medicine web site, for the report “Association Between Hospitals’ Engagement in Value-Based Reforms and Remission Reduction in the Hospital Readmission Reduction Program.”