“No Viable Path for Many SNFs to Improve, Avoid Penalties in Value-Based Purchasing”

 

“No Viable Path for Many SNFs to Improve, Avoid Penalties in Value-Based Purchasing,” by Amy Stulick, Skilled Nursing News

 

Quote:

“The value-based purchasing program (VBP) may not be offering sufficient incentives for nursing homes to improve, particularly for low-performing facilities in areas with underserved populations. Only 0.7% of poor-performing skilled nursing facilities were able to improve enough to avoid a financial penalty under VBP, a JAMA study found – the program didn’t “offer a viable path” for such facilities to avoid penalties using readmission rate data, JAMA researchers said.”

 

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

In a free market, fee for service prevails. Consumers get what they pay for and companies are incentivized by profits to offer the best and most desired services. When government pays and decides what constitutes “value,” consumers get only what central planners decide they should and can have. That’s exactly how CMS’s “value-based” purchasing program is playing out. As it falls apart, look out below.