The investments and innovations we are making to improve our quality and outcomes are having an impact!

Across the country, 2,273 hospitals will have to pay a financial penalty for having too many readmissions, but Hereford Regional Medical Center is penalty-free.

Every year since 2012, the federal government imposes financial penalties on hospitals they deem to have too many hospital readmissions of Medicare patients with specific diagnoses: heart failure, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery bypass grafts, and knee and hip replacements. Readmissions occur when a patient is discharged from the hospital but returns within 30 days because he or she isn’t getting better. The government takes up to 3 percent of hospitals’ Medicare payments as a penalty for these readmissions.

According to the federal government, Hereford Regional Medical Center will have no financial penalties for 2023 based on 2022 readmissions reporting.

“I’m proud of our team and their commitment to ensuring that every patient discharged from our hospital has what they need to continue to heal and improve,” said Jeff Barnhart, CEO, Deaf Smith County Hospital District.