The document summarizes information presented at an Alabama Hospital Association meeting about the CMS Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. It discusses rising healthcare costs, the shift from fee-for-service to value-based reimbursement, and new programs linking hospital payment to quality metrics like readmission rates. Hospitals face reductions of up to 3% of Medicare reimbursement payments if they have excess readmissions for conditions like heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. The presentation provides Alabama-specific data on the financial impacts of readmission adjustments and new billing codes for transitional care management.