Cost-effectiveness of recommended nurse staffing levels for short-stay skilled nursing facility patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Among patients in skilled nursing facilities for post-acute care, increased registered nurse, total licensed staff, and nurse assistant staffing is associated with a decreased rate of hospital transfer for selected diagnoses. However, the cost-effectiveness of increasing staffing to recommended levels is unknown.

Methods

Using a Markov cohort simulation, we estimated the incremental cost-effectiveness of recommended staffing versus median staffing in patients admitted to skilled nursing facilities for post-acute care. The outcomes of interest were life expectancy, quality-adjusted life expectancy, and incremental cost-effectiveness.

Results

The incremental cost-effectiveness of recommended staffing versus median staffing was $321,000 per discounted quality-

SUBMITTER: Ganz DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1145183 | biostudies-literature | 2005 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature