“COVID Accelerates Shift to Private Skilled Nursing Rooms, Up 31% in 2020”

“COVID Accelerates Shift to Private Skilled Nursing Rooms, Up 31% in 2020,” by Amy Stulick, Skilled Nursing News

Quote:  “The pandemic has accelerated a shift to private rooms in the skilled nursing space, an attempt to help curb infection, with 31 percent of operators making the change in some capacity last year. … The main challenge to this shift, Utz said, falls on Medicaid reimbursed care. ‘The revenue just isn’t there,’ he added. ‘Every skilled nursing facility has a mix of Medicare, private pay, and Medicaid. The business model just isn’t supported at the reimbursement levels for private rooms.’ If that model shifts to more private pay and Medicare, more operators would be likely to get in on the trend.”

LTC Comment, Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform:

No truer words were ever spoken. Private rooms are necessary to make institutional care safer, but Medicaid will never support them financially. Nor will Medicare. So private financing is the key and it will not be unlocked as long as Medicaid and Medicare dominate LTC financing. For why the status quo pertains and how to change it read Medicaid and Long-Term Care.