Where Skilled Nursing Facility Residents Get Acute Care: Is the Emergency Department the Medical Home?

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

This study aimed to characterize the distribution of acute care visits among Medicare beneficiaries receiving skilled nursing facility (SNF) services.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a 20% sample of continuously enrolled Medicare beneficiaries in the 2012 Chronic Condition Warehouse data set. Beneficiaries were grouped by the number of days of SNF services, and acute care visits were categorized as "before SNF," "during SNF," or "after SNF."

Results

Among the 10,717,786 Medicare beneficiaries analyzed, 384,312 (3.6%) had at least one SNF stay.

Discussion

Beneficiaries who received SNF services had a higher proportion of acute care visits made to emergency departments (EDs) than beneficiaries who did not receive SNF services. Also,

SUBMITTER: Venkatesh AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7904961 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature