Last year, CMS introduced the Community Based Care Transition Program (Program), the goals of which are to reduce hospital readmissions, test sustainable funding streams for care transition services, maintain or improve quality of care, and document measureable savings to the Medicare program. Under section 3026 of the Affordable Care Act, CMS was appropriated $500 million in total funding for the Program from 2011 to 2015. The original deadline to apply for program participation [PDF] was March 2012, but CMS recently extended the application period into the summer of 2012. The final deadline for rolling applications is now June 7, 2012.
Eligibility and Deadlines
Eligible hospitals include acute-care hospitals with high readmission rates that partner with community based organizations (CBOs) or CBOs that provide care transition services to improve a patient's transition from a hospital to another setting, such as a long-term care facility or the patient's home. CMS prepared a list of high readmission hospitals [PDF] to determine which hospitals meet this definition for the Program. CBOs will be required to provide care transition services across care settings, which may include at least one of the following....
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