Ashish Jha has spent years sounding the alarm about the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program — an Obamacare policy intended to encourage hospitals to provide better care. But Jha argues the program instead put patients at risk, and new data suggests he might be right.

Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, joins POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss the readmissions policy and the latest data. Jha also reflects on the Trump administration’s approach to global health and how his perspective has evolved over the past two years.

MENTIONED ON THE SHOW

Jha’s February 2017 appearance on POLITICO “Pulse Check,” where he discussed his career and global health priorities.

A JAMA study in December found a link between the readmissions policy and rising mortality. Harvard researchers this month also concluded that Medicare has overstated the benefits of its readmissions policy.

Yale’s Harlan Krumholz helped develop the policy and has extensively defended it, including in this 2017 comment in JAMA.

Writing in the New York Times, Paula Span reviewed the latest arguments and data.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar has a unique perspective: Even as he oversees a policy to cut readmissions, Azar was readmitted to the hospital last year while suffering an intestinal infection.

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