Robert King reports for the Washington Examiner on hospitals’ response to rising costs associated with the (ahem) Affordable Care Act.

Hospitals have found loopholes to avoid penalties linked to Obamacare, but at the expense of patients’ wallets.

The controversial law puts an impetus on improving the quality of care, doling out penalties or incentives for certain measures. Hospitals that have too many Medicare patient readmissions within 30 days of the patient getting discharged, for example, receive reduced Medicare payments.

But hospitals have found a way to game the system, a new study concludes.

Hospitals are increasingly “observing” Medicare patients instead of readmitting them, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs. The practice can increase out-of-pocket costs for patients based on how they are classified by the hospital.

Observation status means the patient doesn’t initially meet the criteria for admission into the hospital but should be observed in the hospital before being sent home, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, a nonpartisan agency that provides Congress with analysis on Medicare.

Such observation stays get billed as outpatient services rather than another admission. Thus, hospitals can avoid readmitting a patient by putting another label on them.

While the relabeling helps hospitals avoid costly penalties, “it probably signals little real quality gain,” the journal article said.

From 2006 to 2013, observation stays increased by 96 percent, according to 2015 data from the commission. The commission didn’t break out the totals from 2010, when Obamacare was passed.