Reducing Nursing Home Residents Hospitalizations
Posted on behalf of Jeff Pitman on September 18, 2015
in Nursing Homes and Elder Rights
Updated on April 25, 2024
Nursing home residents often experience potentially avoidable injuries and conditions that require hospitalization. This population is especially vulnerable to possible exposure to illnesses and complications that can occur during stays and transitions to hospitals.
For these reasons, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been focused for the last three years on an initiative to reduce the number of avoidable hospitalizations for patients living in assisted living facilities, and ultimately improve the quality of care that residents receive.
When a resident has to be admitted into the hospital, the costs both physically and economically can add up. Approximately 45 percent of hospital visits from individuals receiving Medicare or Medicaid nursing home services could have been avoided. That adds up to about $2.6 billion annually in Medicare funds and accounts for 314,000 hospitalizations.
The CMS hopes to create a model of healthcare that utilizes nursing homes as residents main healthcare facility. Through partnerships with nonprofits, healthcare providers and health organizations the agency implemented evidence-based clinical and educational interventions that help reduce avoidable hospital admissions among residents.
A second phase of the initiative was launched on Aug. 27 and provides an additional funding incentive to encourage participating organizations to treat patients in-house in the long-term care facility rather than in a hospital. The new funding model will fund higher-intensity treatment services in nursing home facilities. This will hopefully allow conditions to be treated more effectively, more quickly and more economically.
If your loved one has suffered abuse or neglect in a nursing home or assisted living facility, contact a personal injury lawyer at PKSD. Our nursing home abuse lawyers are dedicated to seeking justice for the injured.
Call 414-333-3333 for a free review of your case.