Jordan Rau, Kaiser Health News

An analysis of new Medicare data provides a look at how the nation's hospitals are doing with all-cause, unplanned readmissions.

During the first eight months of this year, fewer than 18 percent of Medicare patients ended up back in the hospital within a month of discharge, the lowest rate in years, the federal government reported Friday.

After years of trying to clamp down on hospital spending, the federal government wants to get control over what Medicare spends on nursing homes, home health services and other medical care typically provided to patients after they have left the hospital.

More hospitals are receiving penalties than bonuses in the second year of Medicare's quality incentive program, and the average penalty is steeper than it was last year.

A New York state hospital association has put out a report card grading the quality of hospital graders. Five of the 10 report cards that were evaluated were given low marks.

Medicare will levy $227 million in fines against hospitals for failing to reduce readmissions.

The topic of why it costs more to treat patients in some areas of the country than in others has caused feuds among researchers. Given the decades-long argument, a new IOM report is likely to only add fuel to the fire.

Medicare is considering assigning stars or some other easily understood symbol to hospitals so patients can more easily compare the quality of care at various institutions.

Doctor-owned hospitals are earning many of the largest bonuses from the federal health law's new quality programs, even as the law halts their growth.

For 15 years, Congress has bestowed special privileges to some small remote hospitals, usually in rural areas, to help them stay afloat. Despite these benefits, there's new evidence that the quality of many of these hospitals may be deteriorating.