Position your facility for current and future Value Based Purchasing success!

Now more than ever, discharge planning must start day one in skilled nursing facilities.  Not only do managed care providers look to minimize a patient’s length of stay but effective DC planning can impact Value Based Purchasing (VBP) scores. The Value Based Purchasing Program ties a portion of Medicare payments to performance on quality, specifically potentially preventable re-hospitalizations at this time. Solid nursing care as well as competent therapy teams practicing at the top of their license will help to decrease the number of these re-hospitalizations.   In the not-too distant future, the VBP will be expanded and include a number of additional quality measures such as nurse staffing/ turnover, falls with major injury, discharges to the community and the discharge function score.  Having a strong ally in your rehab department is key to financial and community image success.  

Savvy rehab teams greatly support the success of each facility. Some of the many quality factors impacted include falls prevention, successful discharges to the community, and improved outcomes through competent Section GG scoring. Section GG looks at a person’s ability to function in terms of self care and mobility with data gathered upon admission and discharge. Therapy interventions and precise scoring are essential to maximize outcome measures. Therapists spend 1:1 time with their patients and train them for maximal independence with areas such as transfers, walking, dressing and toileting. They are careful not to “over-assist” a patient and thereby artificially limit their potential and possibly their Section GG scores. This results in accurate Section GG data being shared with the resident assessment coordinator for consideration.

As a nursing home patient gains strength and independence, the opportunity for them to discharge to the community increases. Currently, getting home and staying home safely are factored into the VBP measure. From stair climbing to meal preparation to memory strategies, therapy can assist each person get home and not return unexpectedly to the hospital. This supports strong VBP measures.

When therapy addresses areas such as balance, mobility, cognition and assistive device use (i.e. canes and walkers), the risk of a major fall with injury decreases. Obviously, this reflects quality patient care, and it also supports your facility’s community image. Families touring a facility may be discouraged when seeing residents with black eyes and lacerations from a fall. They may not see the resulting decline in status but certainly the bruises make an impression all on their own.

Although your therapy department’s role within your facility has shifted over the years, our shared value for quality care has not. The Value Based Purchasing program should serve to focus our efforts on this goal.