Scientific American’s take on reducing readmissions through cutting-edge technology

One in five Medicare patients return to the hospital within a month after discharge, so it isn’t surprising that the federal government is pushing forward an agenda to discourage costly readmissions. Come October, hospitals with chronic readmission problems with patients struggling with heart failure, pneumonia and heart attack will face Medicare reimbursement penalties.

With this federal pressure on the horizon, an April 9 Scientific American article delves into all the promising technology—such as telehealth and mobile devices, microchipped medications and accessible digital health records—that could keep patients and physicians connected post discharge and bring down expensive readmissions in the process.