Revolving Door of Re-hospitalizations for Medicare Beneficiaries in Skilled Nursing Facilities
Members of the Shaping Long-Term Care in America research team recently published findings of a study examining re-hospitalization of Medicare beneficiaries discharged from the hospital to a nursing home. The study found that nearly 25% of these patients were re-admitted to the hospital within 30 days and that this cost Medicare over $4 billion in 2006.
Click here for a link to the full article or here for a findings brief.
Study Finds Fewer Nursing Homes Providing CNA Training
We found that the prevalence of nursing home (NH)-based nurse aide training and certification programs dropped throughout the study period, 1997-2007, so it is likely that most certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are now receiving their pre-employment training outside the NH setting. In addition, we found that those CNAs trained outside the NH are paying a greater share of their training costs. The shifting of CNA training to venues other than NHs raises important questions about the quality of training and states’ ability to monitor training programs. In addition, increased costs for CNAs receiving training outside NHs may possibly create a disincentive to entering this field.
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Growth of Hospice in US Nursing Homes
This study found that between 1999 and 2006, the number of hospices providing care in NHs rose from 1,850 to 2,768, and rates of NH hospice use more than doubled (from 14% to 33%). With this growth came a doubling of mean lengths of stay (from 46 to 93 days) and a 14% increase in the proportion of NH hospice decedents with noncancer diagnoses (69% in 1999 to 83% in 2006). The authors suggest that policy efforts to curb Medicare hospice expenditures (driven in part by provider growth) must consider the potentially negative effect of changes on access for dying (mostly noncancer) NH residents.
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Click here for the press release and related video clip.