A national study of nearly 4,500 nursing homes found that the adoption of SNFists increases nursing home referrals, but have little effect on lowering rehospitalizations, according to the research published June 14 in JAMA.
While the research did not reveal a link between rehospitalization rates and nursing home adoption of SNF professionals concentrating their practice within the nursing home, the ones that did adopt this practice saw a shift in the mix of patient cases moving toward more post acute care as opposed to long-term care.
"Together, the absence of increases in rehospitalization rates suggests that SNFist adoption may reflect facility investments in care models better suited to managing patients receiving postacute care," researchers wrote of the findings. "This may be attractive to NHs because Medicare payments for post acute care are more profitable than Medicaid payments for long-term care."