Dual impacts of Medicare payment reform and the COVID-19 pandemic on therapy staffing in skilled nursing facilities.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Implementation of new skilled nursing facility (SNF) Medicare payment policy, the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), resulted in immediate declines in physical and occupational therapy staffing. This study characterizes continuing impacts of PDPM in conjunction with COVID-19 on SNF therapy staffing and examines variability in staffing changes based on SNF organizational characteristics.

Methods

We analyzed Medicare administrative data from a national cohort of SNFs between January 2019 and March 2022. Interrupted time series mixed effects regression examined changes in level and trend of total therapy staffing minutes/patient-day during PDPM and COVID-19 and by type of staff (therapists, assistants, contractors, and in-house staff). Secondary analyses examined t

SUBMITTER: Prusynski RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9880747 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature