Exploring the Potential Benefits and Drawbacks of Acute-Care and Post-Acute Care Payment Bundling

Posted by Jason Greis on April 3, 2009 under Articles, Whitepapers | Be the First to Comment

The current Congressional fervor to overhaul the U.S. health care system has some policy makers discussing how to change the way post-acute providers, including LTACHs, home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and outpatient-based hospital rehabilitation facilities are compensated for treating Medicare beneficiaries.  One solution proposed by President Barack Obama, the Congressional Budget Office, and certain congressional leaders is to bundle payments for acute care and post-acute care services provided within the first thirty days after being discharged from an acute care hospital.  This bundling model has been proposed many times since the early 1980s as a measure to control escalating post-acute care costs, decrease the number of preventable acute-care hospital readmissions, and increase Medicare cost savings but has never received broad support-until now. Read More...