Inbound Health’s Post

The crisis of patients facing prolonged hospital stays due to limited post-acute care options continues to strain the US healthcare system. Workforce shortages in nursing homes are a major contributor, but as experts highlighted in a recent ATI Advisory webinar on Skilled Nursing News, the issue is far more complex. Read more about the discussion below. https://lnkd.in/gk4S_JH3

From the superb Gist newsletter from Kaufman Hall, Dawn Samaris - 'Improving skilled nursing facility (SNF) relationships'   '"If I could fix one thing with a snap of my finger,” a hospital CEO recently told me, “I’d double the capacity of skilled nursing facilities in our market. All these patients, just sitting in bed, waiting for discharge, are really hurting our length of stay.” Many health system leaders I work with have expressed similar frustrations around reducing inpatient average length of stay, and they often point to delayed post-acute discharges as a key driver of the problem. SNF bed counts and staffing levels took a big hit during COVID, but, as this CEO went on to say: “Of course, capacity is not our only concern. Managed care approvals, especially for our Medicare Advantage patients, are also making it much harder for us to discharge patients.”    With this challenging backdrop, health systems must continue to focus on areas that they can control. These include ensuring that their inpatient discharge processes are optimized and that there is a sufficient supply of SNF beds available to receive patients being discharged. The latter, in particular, lends new urgency to the familiar topic of SNF partnership options. In many markets, health systems are realizing the need to contribute financial, staffing, or other resources to secure expedited placement privileges, or even dedicated bed capacity, at partner SNFs. Is your health system currently exploring options for preferred provider relationships with SNFs? I’d be happy to discuss the pros and cons of various SNF strategies, along with how to make the business case for partnership—please reach out." -> We do this now at StatPoint (in year 11, across DC/MD/NVa), called our Preventing Escalations Program. Except we can also trim hospital LOS by discharge to home, supported thereafter by scheduled or urgent StatPoint nurse visits to avoid an ED/Hospital Admit-Readmit. Kristoffer Gundrum  

Numerous factors can drive the nature and scope of problems around timely discharge to skilled #nursing providers. In a new article, Kaufman Hall managing director Dawn Samaris and vice presidents Jordan Cloch, CPA, and Chris Peltola discuss how to successfully reduce the length of stay and explore how health system management needs to combine performance improvement efforts with efforts to successfully align themselves more closely with skilled nursing providers. #nursingexcellence https://lnkd.in/gv5w_nHC

Nursing homes specializing in post-acute care deliver better outcomes, but at a cost: study

A Look at Nursing Facility Characteristics Between 2015 and 2023: This data note examines the characteristics of nursing facilities and the people living in them with data from Nursing Home Compare, a publicly available dataset that provides a snapshot of information on quality of care in each nursing facility, and CASPER (Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports), a dataset that includes detailed metrics collected by surveyors during nursing facility inspections. #medicaid #mdrp #cms

Discover how an operational assessment can transform your skilled nursing facility! In his latest blog post, Darrin Hull discusses the importance of fresh eyes in optimizing revenue, reducing costs, and right-sizing operations in a post-pandemic market. Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/gjcev4Rf

Chronic staffing shortages and the use of technology in nursing homes via David Chess, MD & Joseph Ouslander, MD -One area technology can make a very significant impact is monitoring of nursing home residents’ clinical status. With limited staffing, it is difficult to monitor all residents as closely as needed to detect changes in condition that can be treated before becoming serious enough to require hospitalization. Current technologies that are widely available and low-cost can help fill the gap, allowing us to have eyes on all residents and to respond quickly to changes in condition. -The most critical threats to health and safety of nursing home residents are infections and falls. Devices that monitor key vital signs, such as respiratory rate, pulse, temperature and movement can therefore be used as an early care detection system, enabling caregivers to focus on those most in need while also ensuring timely responses to any incidents that might otherwise occur. Monitoring systems can assist in early detection of instability or changes in condition and may assist limited staff to prevent serious incidents such as infections and falls, and thereby reducing suffering and hospital costs

In the healthcare world, hospital at home programs have received a lot of attention lately. But what about skilled nursing at home programs? Our latest blog explains what a skilled nursing at home program is and some of the benefits.  https://lnkd.in/gNGctApb 

Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) owned or operated by hospitals (hospital-owned SNFs) have a demonstrated track record of delivering positive outcomes for post-acute care patients. Such success, however, has not been without challenges. In recent years, the combination of increased scrutiny of SNFs, staffing shortages, and increased operating costs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has led to decreased profitability of many hospital-owned SNFs, thereby resulting in a large number of hospitals selling or closing their hospital-owned SNFs. However, due to the growing number of seniors entering hospitals seeking care, and despite current challenges, hospital-owned SNFs still play a vital role in our health care system and remain a viable care strategy for a number of hospitals. For others, the utilization of more financially feasible alternative affiliations or integration arrangements can provide benefits similar to those of hospital-owned SNFs. Keep reading: https://lnkd.in/ecDR2jyD By E. Bahati Mutisya, Stefanie Jones Doyle, Eric J. Bonsall, Sandra Adams, Alissa Fleming, and Michelle A. Williams

Team nursing could lead to patient deaths, higher costs, says study - Healthcare IT news Summary: A recent study suggests that team nursing may result in patient deaths and increased costs. The study highlights the potential risks associated with this care delivery model and emphasizes the importance of reevaluating its effectiveness in healthcare settings. Healthcare IT professionals should consider the implications of team nursing on patient outcomes and financial resources when implementing new care strategies. #StudyFindings: The study reveals that team nursing may lead to adverse patient outcomes, including higher mortality rates and increased healthcare costs. These findings underscore the need for further research and analysis to better understand the impact of team nursing on patient care. #PatientSafetyConcerns: Team nursing poses significant patient safety concerns, as it may result in fragmented care, communication errors, and lack of accountability among healthcare providers. Addressing ai.mediformatica.com #hospital #health #staff #healthcare #hospitals #medicare #mortality #nurses #nursing #patients #research #news #digitalhealth #healthit #healthtech #healthcaretechnology @MediFormatica (https://buff.ly/3KTTDuZ)