Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) play a dual role, offering post-acute care services to short-stay patients and long-term care for permanent residents. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing in SNFs has garnered significant national attention, with efforts underway to enhance the quality of patient care. While research indicates that staffing levels for non-nursing roles…
Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) have recently experienced 2 major disruptions impacting staffing: 1) the Medicare payment reform in October 2019, which significantly altered reimbursement incentives for post-acute stays, and 2) the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic. Extensive research has been conducted on how these events have affected nurse staffing in SNFs, including registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical…
Therapy assistants represent approximately half of the therapy workforce in skilled nursing facilities. Employment of therapy assistants enables skilled nursing facilities to provide more therapy services at lower costs. As new payment mechanisms provide incentives for therapy in skilled nursing facilities, employment of therapy assistants may be a cost-effective way to continue to provide services…
The Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) is a new reimbursement policy for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) that was implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2019. PDPM disincentivizes provision of intensive physical and occupational therapy, which has caused concerns that declines in therapy staffing may negatively impact patient outcomes. Therapy staff includes physical…
The Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) is a new reimbursement policy for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) that was implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in 2019. PDPM disincentivizes provision of intensive physical and occupational therapy, which has caused concerns that declines in therapy staffing may negatively impact patient outcomes. Therapy staff includes physical…
Therapy assistants represent approximately half of the therapy workforce in skilled nursing facilities. Employment of therapy assistants enables skilled nursing facilities to provide more therapy services at lower costs. As new payment mechanisms provide incentives for therapy in skilled nursing facilities, employment of therapy assistants may be a cost-effective way to continue to provide services…
