“Nursing homes can treat higher acuity patients without raising their risk of death: Study,” by Marty Stempniak, McKnight’s LTC News

“Skilled nursing facilities can safely take on higher levels of care for their residents to avoid the hospital, and they can do so without raising residents’ risk of death. That’s according to a new study by the RTI International research firm, published in October’s Health Affairs. Researchers there took a closer look at providers involved in the federal government’s Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among nursing home residents, which ended in 2016. They found that not only did the effort reduce hospitalizations by treating residents at the SNF, but they also did so without greatly risking seniors’ lives.”

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

This is an important finding given the enormous public cost of high-acuity dual-eligible patients and considering the regulatory pressures on skilled nursing facilities to provide “value.”

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#nursing