post-acute care

SNF Discharge May Affect Hospital Readmission Rates

Heart failure patients discharged from skilled nursing facilities after two days or less may be as much as four times more likely to be readmitted to a hospital than those who stay longer, according to a new analysis. The study also found that the hospital readmission rate falls by half for patients who remain in a skilled nursing facility for one to two weeks. The analysis evaluated Medicare data for heart failure patients at least 65 years old and did not adjust for their severity of illness. These findings suggest that the current emphasis on limiting patients’ time in post-acute-care [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-11T06:00:21-04:00April 11, 2019|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, post-acute care|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s April agenda were: Expanding the use of value-based payment in Medicare Medicare Shared Savings Program performance Redesigning the Medicare Advantage quality bonus program Increasing the accuracy and completeness of Medicare Advantage encounter data Evaluating patient functional assessment data reported by post-acute-care providers Options for slowing the growth of Medicare fee-for-service spending for emergency department services Options to increase the affordability of specialty drugs and biologics in Medicare Part D Improving payment for low-volume and isolated outpatient dialysis [...]

iqtsupport2019-04-09T06:00:04-04:00April 9, 2019|Alternative payment models, hospitals, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s March agenda were: two Medicare payment strategies to improve price competition and value for Part B drugs: reference pricing and binding arbitration options for slowing the growth of Medicare fee-for-service spending for emergency department service. Medicare’s role in the supply of primary care physicians evaluating an episode-based payment system for post-acute care mandated report: changes in post-acute and hospice care following the implementation of the long-term care hospital dual payment rate structure MedPAC is an independent congressional [...]

iqtsupport2019-03-12T06:00:49-04:00March 12, 2019|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

Rural Nursing Homes Struggle With Challenges

Across rural parts of the country skilled nursing facilities are struggling, and growing numbers are faltering in the face of many problems. Among the challenges they face are: difficulty passing health and safety standards evolving health care policies that encourage people to remain in their homes instead of choosing to enter nursing homes growing proportions of patients covered by Medicaid the failure of Medicaid payments in many states to cover the cost of nursing home care These challenges are especially acute in rural areas. Today, many regions have enough skilled nursing beds, at least on paper, but they are not [...]

iqtsupport2019-03-06T06:00:27-05:00March 6, 2019|Medicaid, post-acute care|

Nursing Home Study: More Medicaid Patients=Worse Care

Nursing homes that serve larger proportions of Medicaid patients have lower quality ratings, according to a new study from the American Health Care Association, a long-term-care provider trade group. The study also found that: For-profit nursing homes care for more Medicaid patients than non-profits. Rural nursing homes care for more Medicaid patients than urban facilities. Large facilities care for a higher proportion of Medicaid patients than smaller facilities. Learn more about the study and the theories behind some of these findings in the McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article “AHCA study: Facilities with higher Medicaid populations have poorer quality outcomes.” [...]

iqtsupport2019-02-28T13:00:01-05:00February 28, 2019|Medicaid, post-acute care|

Nursing Home Occupancy Down

Nursing home occupancy fell from 83.07 percent in 2013 to 80.24 percent at the end of 2017, according to a new report. The amount of time patients spend in nursing homes is falling as well. Declining occupancy and length of stay and shrinking reimbursement have led to nursing home closings and a six percent decline in cash on hand between 2013 to 2017. Learn more about some of the challenges facing skilled nursing facilities in the McKnight’s Long-Term Care News report “Dwindling reimbursement, occupancy numbers chipping away at skilled nursing margins, new analysis finds.”

iqtsupport2019-02-27T13:00:08-05:00February 27, 2019|post-acute care|

MedPAC Meets

Last week the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission met in Washington, D.C. to discuss a number of Medicare payment issues. The issues on MedPAC’s October agenda were: managing prescription opioid use in Medicare Part D opioids and alternatives in hospital settings: payments, incentives, and Medicare data Medicare payment policies for advanced practice registered nurses and physicians Medicare’s role in the supply of primary care physicians Medicare payments for services provided in inpatient psychiatric facilities episode-based payments and outcome measures under a unified payment system for post-acute care Medicare policy issues related to non-urgent and emergency care MedPAC is an independent congressional [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-11T06:00:51-04:00October 11, 2018|Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, Medicare reimbursement policy, MedPAC, post-acute care|

MedPAC Issues 2018 Report to Congress

The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicare payment policies has submitted its mandatory annual report to Congress. Among the findings included in the report by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission are: Medicare’s hospital readmissions reduction program has not resulted in increases in emergency room visits or hospital observation stays. Many Medicare accountable care organizations, while maintaining or improving quality, are producing more modest savings than predicted. MedPAC approves of Medicare’s proposals to redesign the case-mix classification system for skilled nursing facilities. MedPAC supports changes Medicare has proposed for patient assessment and therapy requirements for [...]

iqtsupport2018-06-21T10:33:14-04:00June 21, 2018|Accountable Care Organization, ACO, hospitals, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare post-acute care, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|

Nursing Homes Turning Away Addicted Patients

Nursing homes frequently refuse to serve patients being treated with medication to serve opioid addictions. They do so even though opioid addiction is considered a chronic disease and recognized as such under the Americans With Disabilities Act. While some nursing homes claim not to be aware of the obligation to serve such patients, others choose not to do so, with some claiming they lack the resources or expertise to serve such patients or that abstinence from opioid use is superior to medication as a treatment for opioid addiction. As a result, many acute-care hospitals have difficulty finding skilled nursing placements [...]

iqtsupport2018-05-02T06:00:40-04:00May 2, 2018|post-acute care|

MedPAC Mulls Uniform Outcome Measures to Complement Unified Post-Acute Payments

In support of its proposal that Medicare adopt a unified payment system for post-acute-care services, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission is exploring how to develop uniform outcome measures to support such a new payment system. Under the MedPAC vision, articulated at its early April public meeting, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, long-term-care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities would see their outcomes quantified based on their performance on a series of quality measures. Meanwhile, there has been little congressional interest in the unified post-acute payment proposal so far. While some aspects of such a proposal could be implemented administratively, the [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-18T06:00:59-04:00April 18, 2018|Medicare, Medicare regulations, MedPAC, post-acute care|