Readmission Penalties Approaching for Skilled Nursing Facilities - August 5, 2016

Readmission Penalties Approaching for Skilled Nursing Facilities

One of the most challenging transitions a patient will face is being discharged from the hospital and going to a skilled nursing facility. One fifth of the patients discharged from acute care hospitals are sent to one of the nations 15,000 skilled nursing facilities. According to a new report, skilled nursing facilities will need to address the “Protecting Access to Medicare Act” that starts to take effect in 2018.

Both hospitals and skilled nursing facilities will be responsible for any patient that is readmitted within 30 days of discharge.  That is both a good and bad thing according to Jennifer Carnahan M.D. from Indiana University. “By making Skilled Nursing Facilities more accountable for their care by initiating a 20-day readmission penalty rule, the federal government is advocating for the Patients . . . but as physicians-researcher, we believe there will be critical problems for patient care that need to be address before this new provision can be rolls out.”

Reducing the spread of infection can help lower the readmission rate in skilled nursing facilities. Implementing “no touch” cleaning technologies like ultraviolet C can be a powerful tool to reduce the spread of infection. UVC Cleaning Systems offers affordable whole room disinfection solutions that fit the needs of the skilled nursing facilities.   

To find out more about SNFs readmission penalties, click here.

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