The first Alert this month looked at preventable hospital readmissions and ways to attempt to reduce the rate, which was 12.3 percent for Medicare patients in 2011.  There is much more to say on the topic, including an interesting study published in the June 2013 issue of Health Affairs, Limits of Readmission Rates in Measuring Hospital Quality Suggest the Need for Added Metrics by Matthew J. Press and colleagues. This study concluded that 30-day readmission rates fluctuated and that they were not well correlated with other measures of hospital performance.  At most, therefore readmission rates should complement other quality indicators and not be considered on their own.  Unplanned readmissions have taken on a sizeable role in quality measurement in the last few years, because they are such an accessible proxy for other measures.  CMS is not just reducing payments to hospitals with higher-than–expected readmission rates for certain diagnoses, but it is...