In March 2015, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report on Medicare’s expenditures on swing beds in Critical Access Hospitals (“Medicare Could Have Saved Billions At Critical Access Hospitals If Swing Bed Services Were Reimbursed Using The Skilled Nursing Facility Prospective Payment System Rates.” Department of Health and Human Services, Office of… Read more »
The 21st Century Rural Hospital: A Chart Book
Hospitals have changed over recent decades. Hospital stays are shorter. Procedures once requiring hospitalization are now done in an outpatient setting. Hospitals have moved beyond providing mainly inpatient and emergency department care. They have become vertically integrated systems with “one-stop shopping” for all of one’s health care needs. The transformation of hospitals has also occurred… Read more »
Rural Provider Perceptions of the ACA: Case Studies in Four States
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded health insurance coverage to previously uninsured populations by allowing states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) as well as by creating health insurance marketplaces to subsidize affordable coverage. However, states with a higher number or proportion of rural… Read more »
Do Current Medicare Rural Hospital Payment Systems Align with Cost Determinants?
The financial performance of small, rural hospitals has long been a concern to federal and state agencies. Federal law makers have enacted legislation authorizing the Medicare program to develop reimbursement methods that provide higher payments to hospitals that serve rural communities (Critical Access Hospitals, Sole Community Hospitals, Medicare-Dependent Hospitals, and Standard Prospective Payment Systems hospitals). Current… Read more »
Rural-Urban Differences in Continuity of Care among Medicare Beneficiaries
In response to the Affordable Care Act and other reforms in the health care market, new models of care are being tested and implemented across the country. Care and payment models such as patient-centered medical homes, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and bundled payments depend on linkages between different types of health care providers to ensure… Read more »
Best Practices for Health Insurance Marketplace Outreach and Enrollment in Rural Areas
The Affordable Care Act provided coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace to nearly seven million people during the first open enrollment period. Yet, research suggests that the enrollment rates for eligible individuals living in rural areas was less than enrollment rates for those living in urban areas. That may be due, in part, to specific challenges… Read more »
Priorities for Autism Research |Stakeholder Survey
Are you an autism stakeholder – a self-advocate, family member, provider, policymaker or researcher? Please tell us your priorities for autism research by taking a brief confidential survey. The survey asks questions about your interest in autism, what you value in treatment options, and where you feel investment should be made in future research. LINK… Read more »
Geographic Variation in Plan Uptake in the Federally Facilitated Marketplace
On September 18, 2014, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released data showing that nearly five and a half million individuals had selected an insurance plan in the 36 states where the Federally Facilitated Marketplace was operating. The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief: Geographic… Read more »
Rural Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions: Who Is Being Acquired and What Happens Afterward?
Hospital mergers and acquisitions are changing the face of health care in both rural and urban communities across the country. Declining reimbursement levels, increased capital needs, a weak economy and easier access to credit have all contributed to a level of mergers not seen in more than a decade. The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief: Rural… Read more »
How Does Medicaid Expansion Affect Insurance Coverage of Rural Populations?
The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief: How Does Medicaid Expansion Affect Insurance Coverage of Rural Populations? examines how states’ decisions on Medicaid expansion are impacting rural areas in the U.S., we used population estimates, current status of state expansion, and state-level insurance estimates to answer two primary questions: 1) How is Medicaid expansion… Read more »
Toolkit for Person-Centeredness in Assisted Living Now Available
The Toolkit for Person-Centeredness in Assisted Living was developed through a close partnership between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the national Center for Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL), along with assisted living providers, residents, family members, and organizational representatives. Available for free download, the Toolkit includes questionnaires to be completed by assisted living… Read more »
Program on Aging, Disability, and Long-term Care work highlighted in themed journal issue about nursing home culture change
A February 2014 supplemental issue of The Gerontologist entitled Transforming Nursing Home Culture: Evidence for Practice and Policy features several articles by Sheryl Zimmerman, PhD, Philip Sloane, MD, MPH, David Reed, PhD, Lauren Cohen, MA and colleagues. The issue addresses the culture change movement in nursing homes, and provides evidence for future practice and policies… Read more »
Discharge to Swing Bed or Skilled Nursing Facility: Who Goes Where?
The NC Rural Health Research Program’s Findings Brief, Discharge to Swing Bed or Skilled Nursing Facility: Who Goes Where, examines health conditions of patients discharged from rural Prospective Payment System (PPS) hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) to swing beds and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Patients discharged to facility-based, post-acute care from CAHs are sent… Read more »
Program on Health Workforce Nursing Data System Briefs for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI)
A new set of three briefs, developed by a team of researchers funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI), provides information and guidance to help states build and maintain nursing workforce data systems that will help answer questions about the current and future supply, distribution, diversity, and demand for… Read more »
Study to evaluate Mouth Care Without a Battle finds that as little as 8 weeks of mouth care can significantly improve oral hygiene outcomes
Program on Aging, Disability, and Long-term Care team members Philip Sloane, Sheryl Zimmerman, Lauren Cohen, and David Reed have published the results of a pilot study to evaluate the Mouth Care Without a Battle training program. Findings indicate that as few as 8 weeks of mouth care can significantly improve oral hygiene outcomes in older… Read more »
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