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Boca Regional Hospital ranks in top 10 for readmission rates

By Palm Beach Business.com

BOCA RATON – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has cited Boca Raton Regional Hospital as one of 10 hospitals nationally to have better than expected readmission rates for patients being treated for heart attack, heart failure and community-acquired pneumonia.

Based on a review of Medicare data,  1 percent of the 4,000 hospitals studied bettered the average for heart attack and pneumonia cases and two percent were labeled as better than average in heart failure. Only a quarter of a percent of hospitals were identified as performing at better than expected across all three categories, including Boca Regional.

Readmissions, which are characterized as a patient having to be placed back in the hospital for any cause within 30 days of original discharge, cost Medicare around $18 billion annually in inpatient spending. Nearly 10 million Medicare patients are affected – a rate of one in five.

“This is exceedingly good news for our hospital and our community, given its Medicare population,” said Dr. Charles Posternack,  Boca Regional’s chief medical officer. “Nearly 70 percent of our inpatients are Medicare beneficiaries.”

Two percent of hospitals reviewed performed at worse than expected readmissions for heart attack patients; 4 percent as having worse than expected rates for heart failure and 3 percent worse than expected for pneumonia cases. The study can be viewed at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. 

“We are most gratified to see Boca Regional perform at this level,”  Boca Regional CEO Jerry Fedele said. “It is strong testimony to the emphasis our physicians and nurses place on quality patient care and the attention they give to the processes and procedures we utilize to ensure that it is the best it can be.”