Sample report · Healthcare & Life Sciences
We re-derived a published figure from the public record.
News coverage of the FY2026 hospital readmissions penalties gives three different penalized-hospital counts and a median penalty of "about 0.69%." We computed from the authoritative CMS final-rule file: 2,304 of 2,945 hospitals penalized (78.2%), median penalty 0.30% among penalized hospitals — and applying CMS's own published penalty rule row by row reproduces CMS's own indicator in 14,483 of 14,487 hospital-measure rows (99.97%).
The situation
Three circulating counts, one authoritative file.
A health-system board quality committee needs the national picture of the federal readmissions penalty program: how the formula works, how many hospitals are penalized, and how much. Secondary coverage disagrees with itself — three penalized counts, none reconcilable.
We pulled the payer's FY2026 final-rule supplemental data file — the file that actually sets the penalties — and had the report compute the counts, test the published penalty rule against every row, and show which circulating figure survives.
What we supplied
Only public inputs — each one sourced.
The primary input is the CMS final-rule penalty file itself (2,945 hospitals, per-measure detail). Program mechanics come from the file's own documentation.
| Input | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hospitals in the final-rule file | 2,945 | CMS supplemental file |
| Penalized (payment reduction > 0) | 2,304 (78.2%) | Computed from the file |
| Not penalized | 641 (21.8%) | Computed from the file |
| Median penalty — among penalized / all | 0.30% / 0.19% | Computed from the file |
| Hospitals at the 3.0% maximum | 15 | Computed from the file |
| Measures / data period | 6 conditions; Jul 2021 – Jun 2024 | File documentation |
Source: CMS FY2026 IPPS Final Rule HRRP Supplemental Data File · download the source document we used.
The report
The finished, board-ready output.
This is the actual rendered report — interactive charts and all. Nothing was edited after generation.
Reconcile
Our output vs. the published figures.
| Metric | Published | Ours (computed) | Match | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penalty-rule reconstruction | CMS per-measure penalty indicators | Published rule reproduces 14,483 of 14,487 rows (99.97%) | ✓ exact | ≥25 discharges AND ratio above peer median — 4 boundary cases at file precision, disclosed |
| Penalized-hospital count | Circulating: ~2,545, '641 escaped (21.8%)', ~2,400 | 2,304 penalized; 641 not (21.8%) | ✓ exact | The 641/21.8% claim matches the file exactly; the others use unstated denominators |
| Median penalty | Circulating: ~0.69% | 0.30% among penalized (0.19% overall) | ≈ explained | The circulating figure does not match the final-rule file — compute from the file |
The file's own universe definition (open subsection (d) hospitals with at least one measure; Maryland excluded) is stated wherever a count appears — differing denominators are exactly why circulating counts disagree. Dollar impacts and per-measure predicted/expected components aren't in this file and are disclosed as out of scope, not estimated.
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