Nursing homes are an integral part of our long-term care delivery system, but they also are a vital location for post-acute care (PAC) services. Research questions posed under this topic include:
How are patient outcomes and Medicare spending affected by the decision to discharge patients to home with home health care vs to a skilled nursing facility for post-acute care?
Who is discharged on day 20 of a skilled nursing facility (SNF) stay, when the Medicare benefit drops from 100% to 80% coverage?
Findings show that Medicare beneficiaries eligible for post-acute care who were discharged to home care were more likely to be readmitted. Results did not show differences in mortality or functional outcomes.
Findings show that Medicare beneficiaries were more likely to be discharged from SNFs on benefit day 20 in comparison to benefit day 19 or 21. The beneficiaries discharged on day 20 were more likely to be racial/ethnic minorities and they were more likely to be from areas of lower socioeconomic status compared to beneficiaries discharged either before or after day 20.