Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Post-acute care

MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy, 2019
Annual review of Medicare payment policies, with recommendations to Congress. Includes discussion on Medicare payment policies directly affecting rural providers and beneficiaries. Addresses opioids, Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, Medicare's quality incentive program for hospitals, and payment adequacy for healthcare facilities and services.
Date: 03/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Long-term Care Providers and Services Users in the United States, 2015-2016
Describes the supply, organizational characteristics, staffing, and services offered by providers. Gives descriptions of services users, including residents of nursing homes and residential care communities, patients receiving home health or hospice care, and people who attend adult day care centers. Features statistics including distribution of long-term care providers in 2016, with breakdowns by metropolitan, micropolitan, or other area.
Additional links: State Estimates Supplement
Author(s): L. Harris-Kojetin, M. Sengupta, J.P. Lendon, et al.
Date: 02/2019
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
view details
HCR95 SD1 Report on Availability of Long-Term Care Beds and its Impact on Wait Times for Acute Care Hospital Beds
Responds to a resolution from the Hawaii legislature requesting an examination of the impact of long-term care bed availability on acute care bed wait times. Reports regionally on challenges from community hospitals across the state, including Critical Access Hospitals and sole community hospitals. Identifies social, economic, and psychiatric factors impacting the ability of hospitals to discharge patients to long-term care and discusses the effects on hospital capacity. Highlights a pilot project planned for the Oahu Region.
Date: 12/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Hawaii Health Systems Corporation
view details
Assessing the Unintended Consequences of Health Policy on Rural Populations and Places
Explores health policies that have affected, or could potentially have affected, rural people, places, and providers, in ways that ran counter to policy intent. Examines 6 historical health policies and their effect on rural health systems. Includes a framework for analyzing policy impact on rural populations and places.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, Charlie Alfero, Andrew F. Coburn, et al.
Date: 12/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Policy Research Institute Rural Health Panel
view details
Report to Congress: Demonstration Project on Community Health Integration Models in Certain Rural Counties, Interim Report 2018
Provides an overview of and first year findings from the Frontier Community Health Integration Project Demonstration (FCHIP), which includes 10 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in three states: North Dakota, Montana, and Nevada. The demonstration intends to increase the quality and coordination of care, with focuses on access to and payments for telehealth, ambulance services, and skilled nursing facility/nursing facility beds, as well as related regulatory challenges.
Date: 09/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
view details
MedPAC Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System, June 2018
Evaluates Medicare payment issues and offers recommendations to the U.S. Congress. Includes a chapter on ensuring appropriate access to and use of hospital emergency department (ED) services that provides extensive information on rural access to ED services and identifies examples of rural off-campus emergency departments. Other sections of the report addressing rural concerns focus on post-acute care, quality and value payment programs, and medical device payment policies. Also includes a report on the effects of the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program.
Additional links: Fact Sheet
Date: 06/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
view details
Rural Post-Acute Care: Healthcare Leaders Offer Practical Solutions to Workforce Challenges
Describes methods for preparing and supporting healthcare workers who provide post-acute care in rural areas. Highlights programs that empower and train staff, maximize community partnerships, involve community health workers, and use telemonitoring.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 05/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Rural Post-Acute Care: Improving Transitions to Enhance Patient Recovery
Highlights approaches that are improving patient transitions from acute care to post-acute care (PAC) in rural settings. Features a tertiary facility's communication with skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky, a Nebraska Critical Access Hospital's swing bed program, and a home health agency serving rural Maine.
Author(s): Jenn Lukens
Date: 05/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
Market Characteristics Associated with Rural Hospitals' Provision of Post-Acute Care
Findings brief summarizing hospital- and market-level factors related to post-acute care (PAC) provided in rural hospitals from 2012-2015. Features statistics from 2012-2015 rural Medicare cost reports, PAC provision by census region in 2015, and percent of hospitals in frontier and remote areas in 2015 with breakdowns by type and PAC provision.
Author(s): Abby F. Hoffman, Randy K. Randolph, Alex R. Schulte, George H. Pink
Date: 04/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
view details
Rural and Urban Provider Market Share of Inpatient Post-Acute Care Services Provided to Rural Medicare Beneficiaries
Findings brief examining rural patients' access to rehabilitation and skilled nursing care, using claims data from January 2013 through March 2014. Features statistics including numbers of patient days and discharges and average length of stay, with breakdowns by type and location of facility and type of care.
Author(s): Alex R. Schulte, Denise A. Kirk, Randy K. Randolph, George H. Pink
Date: 04/2018
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: North Carolina Rural Health Research Program
view details