Healthcare Insights
Hospitals with the highest readmission penalties
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP) establishes reimbursement penalties for hospitals with excessive preventable readmissions.
The program aims to incentivize facilities to improve communication and care coordination in post-discharge planning to avoid additional hospitalizations. Hospitals with higher readmissions compared to national averages can be docked a 1% to 3% penalty on reimbursement from CMS.
The Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product tracks hospital readmission penalties and the estimated revenue loss for more than 2,850 U.S. hospitals. The table below features the largest hospitals with the highest readmission rate penalty in 2024, the last full year for which readmission penalty data is available.
| Rank | Definitive ID | Rank | Hospital name | City | State | Medicare FY2024 readmission rate penalty | # of discharges | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 916 | 1 | HCA Florida St Lucie Hospital (FKA St Lucie Medical Center) | Port Saint Lucie | FL | -3.00% | 13,779 | Explore |
| 2 | 309 | 2 | Oroville Hospital | Oroville | CA | -3.00% | 11,475 | Explore |
| 3 | 184 | 3 | Dignity Health Arizona Specialty Hospital (FKA Arizona Orthopedic Surgical Hospital - Closed) | Chandler | AZ | -3.00% | 1,061 | Explore |
| 4 | 4104 | 4 | CHRISTUS Surgical Hospital (FKA South Texas Surgical Hospital) | Corpus Christi | TX | -3.00% | 497 | Explore |
| 5 | 553365 | 5 | CHRISTUS Central Louisiana Surgical Hospital (FKA Central Louisiana Surgical Hospital) | Alexandria | LA | -3.00% | 305 | Explore |
| 6 | 553370 | 6 | Baylor Scott & White Surgical Hospital at Sherman (FKA Heritage Park Surgical Hospital) | Sherman | TX | -3.00% | 297 | Explore |
| 7 | 623 | 7 | Sutter Surgical Hospital North Valley | Yuba City | CA | -3.00% | 274 | Explore |
| 8 | 4027 | 8 | Memorial Hermann Surgical Hospital Kingwood | Kingwood | TX | -3.00% | 202 | Explore |
| 9 | 576747 | 9 | Kings Daughters Medical Center Ohio | Portsmouth | OH | -3.00% | 113 | Explore |
Fig. 1 Analysis of data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product. Penalty data is sourced from results published by CMS for fiscal year 2024. Accessed December 2025.
Which hospitals have the highest readmission rate penalties?
For fiscal year 2024, 9 hospitals received the highest readmission rate penalty, indicating their Medicare revenue will decrease by 3% based on their readmission rates. Of these hospitals, HCA Florida St. Lucie Hospital is the largest based on its 13,779 annual discharges.
Three hospitals on the list are in Texas, averaging 332 discharges a year.
Numerous factors affect a hospital’s readmission rate, and therefore their readmission penalties, including the health of the patient population and the severity of their conditions during their hospital stay.
How is the CMS readmission rate penalty calculated?
HRRP reduces payments to Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) hospitals with excess readmissions as compared to the national average for the applicable condition.
The Medicare readmission rate penalty is a ratio based on payments made for excess readmissions out of all payments for discharges. A negative ratio indicates a decrease in reimbursement by that percentage amount, up to 3%.
What is a hospital readmission?
Readmissions are defined as admissions to an acute care hospital within 30 days of discharge to any subsection (i.e. department) of that entity for any condition or diagnosis.
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