More than a decade after accountable care organizations launched, healthcare systems are still eager to bring more skilled nursing operators into the fold, according to several acute-care speakers at the National Association of ACOs Fall Conference being held in Washington, DC, this week. Financial incentives for nursing homes to sign on to ACOs not led…
Rewards tied to improved hospital readmission rates were so small and so variable from year to year that they likely contributed to a “lack of effectiveness” for a key nursing home financial incentive program. The Skilled Nursing Facility Value-Based Purchasing program is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ largest use of financial incentives to…
What if a potent driver of value-based success isn’t found in your clinical programs but in the first few minutes your residents spend with your team? Long-term care is racing toward value-based care (VBC). You obsess over quality measures, satisfaction surveys and readmission rates. You invest in clinical pathways, technology and staff training. But when…
“Value-based care” (VBC) is one of the most frequently cited goals in U.S. healthcare reform — yet its meaning remains frustratingly vague and often contradictory. We hear that value-based care is the future. But as we navigate payment reforms, new quality programs, and evolving care models, we’re forced to ask: Whose definition of “value” are we…
The term “value-based care” is tossed around like a political football among healthcare policy makers. Nowhere is the meaning of this so variable as in nursing homes. The Nursing Home Value-Based Purchasing Demonstration project, completed over a decade ago, was not found to lower spending or improve quality. Webster’s Dictionary defines value as “the monetary worth of something,”…
A new report is highlighting continuing trends and areas of opportunities that skilled nursing providers can consider while addressing persistent industry developments, such as increasing implementation of Medicare Advantage plans and a hyperfocus on value-based care. The trends unveiled in accounting firm Plante Moran’s “2025 Skilled Nursing Facility Medicare Benchmarking Report” should be used as…
Although accountable care organizations (ACOs) have never been particularly popular among skilled nursing facilities, timing may be ripe to take on more risk to stay competitive in the market. ACO participation may help operators maintain referrals when so many potential residents are being diverted to home health care, hospice and other tracks along the continuum…
Through participation in payment reforms such as bundled payment and accountable care organizations (ACOs), hospitals are increasingly financially responsible for health care use and adverse health events occurring after hospital discharge. To improve management and coordination of postdischarge care, ACO hospitals are establishing a closer relationship with skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) through the formation of…
Inevitably, healthcare incentives continue to transition from the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) model to a value-based payment system. A recent modernization to how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will pay providers for skilled nursing facility (SNF) performance is proof. And if you want to achieve success in alternative payment models (APMs), such as bundled payments…
Due to high magnitude and variation in spending on post-acute care, accountable care organizations (ACOs) are focusing on transforming management of hospital discharge through relationships with preferred skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Using a mixed-methods design, we examined survey data from 366 respondents to the National Survey of ACOs along with 16 semi-structured interviews with ACOs…