By Hamad Husainy DO FACEP – Hospitals are under increasing pressure to minimize readmissions and close costly gaps in care, particularly during the crucial post-acute care phase when patients move to skilled nursing facilities. This is the phase when patients are most vulnerable, and even small gaps in care can lead to complications and avoidable readmissions, no small consideration for hospitals.
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As skilled nursing facilities prepare for a payment model shift focused on reimbursement based on each patient’s unique medical complexity rather than volume of care given, many are turning to Clinical Documentation Improvement programs for help.
By Jill Reeves – The 2019 Fiscal Year is well underway, and 2019 proper will be here in a hot minute. That makes this as good a time as any to preview some of the changes that have recently been or are about to be rolled out by CMS.
By Jordan Rau – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is not known for linguistic playfulness. Nonetheless, at least one person there must have been chuckling when it named its rich new data source for nursing home staffing levels the Payroll-Based Journal, or PBJ.
On July 31, 2017, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued a final rule [CMS-1679-F] outlining Fiscal Year 2018 Medicare payment rates and quality programs for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs).
By Rod Baird – By now most of the healthcare community is familiar with the term Hospitalist. It was first coined in 1996. The earliest use of the term SNFist seems to be in a 1999 NEJM article. The name refers to a Physician or other Medical Professional who specializes in treating the residents of LTPAC institutions.
By Phil McNulty – Care teams within skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) know intimately how readmissions affect the patients they care for, with risks including challenging their already fragile condition while potentially increasing the potential of infection, polypharmacy, and discomfort and stress for the resident and family.