Salt Lake City, June 27, 2017 – Today, Leavitt Partners released a new white paper, entitled “Optimizing the Value of Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) In Value-Based Care: Insights for Hospitals & Health Systems.” The white paper addresses how hospitals and health systems are increasingly relying on post-acute providers to provide high value, low cost care, with a specific focus on how these organizations can rely on SNFs as health care partners. The paper represents findings from a research project funded by Ensign.
The paper contextualizes the value proposition of SNFs in context of the “acuity cascade,” in which patients are transitioned more quickly from higher-level, higher-cost environments into lower-level, lower-cost care settings. It also outlines ways that hospitals and health systems can work with SNFs to decrease costs—especially for high-acuity patients—and outlines how these organizations can optimize SNFs as collaborative partners, including:
- Creating equitable partnerships
- Analyzing all SNF quality data
- Rethinking readmission strategies
- Embedding hospitalist/physician resources into SNF partner facilities
Post-acute care is the new frontier of opportunity for hospitals, health systems, and risk-bearing entities engaged in value-based payments and quality of care improvement programs. As health systems partner with SNFs, they can more effectively coordinate across the care continuum and thus deliver high-quality care while optimizing episode costs. The paper can be viewed here.
About Leavitt Partners:
Leavitt Partners is a health care intelligence business. The firm helps clients successfully navigate the evolving role of value in health care by informing, advising, and convening industry leaders on value market analytics, alternative payment models, federal strategies, insurance market insights, and alliances. Through its family of businesses, the firm provides investment support, data and analytics, member-based alliances, and direct services to clients to support decision-making strategies in the value economy. For more information please visit www.LeavittPartners.com.
About Ensign
The Ensign Group, Inc.’s independent operating subsidiaries provide a broad spectrum of skilled nursing and assisted living services, physical, occupational and speech therapies, home health and hospice services and other rehabilitative and healthcare services at 216 healthcare facilities, twenty hospice agencies, eighteen home health agencies and three home care businesses in California, Arizona, Texas, Washington, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Wisconsin, Kansas, and South Carolina. More information about Ensign is available at www.ensigngroup.net.