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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Long-Term Care Facilities – Resources

Selected recent or important resources focusing on Rural Long-Term Care Facilities.

Medicare Payment Basics: Skilled Nursing Facility Services Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for skilled nursing and rehabilitation services. Describes what constitutes a skilled nursing facility and how small, rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) may be used to provide these services with CMS approval. Compares Medicare daily base rates for urban and rural skilled nursing facilities.
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Medicare Payment Basics: Long-term Care Hospitals Payment System
Overview of Medicare payments for long-term care hospitals (LTCH) and services. Discusses the LTCH prospective payment system (PPS) and payment rate settings for LTCH and site-neutral cases.
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission
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Differences in Staffing for Non-Nursing Occupations Across U.S. Skilled Nursing Facilities During 2018-2023
Examines staffing supply for non-nursing positions in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), such as therapy, respiratory, pharmacy, social work, and more. Utilizes 2018-2023 data to analyze facility characteristics, community factors, staffing minutes per patient-day (MPPD), and percent contractor (PC) staffing. Provides MPPD and PC correlations with rural location, community social deprivation index, race/ethnicity of residents, and more.
Author(s): Rachel A Prusynski, Tracy M Mroz, Bianca K Frogner
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Nursing Home Certificate of Need Moratoria During the COVID-19 Pandemic Had Little Impact on Access
Analyzes certificate of need (CON) moratoria and healthcare supply of skilled nursing facility (SNF) beds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizes 2015-2021 SNF cost report data to provide information on states that implemented CON moratoria, differences by rural versus urban counties, and impact on SNF bed supply.
Author(s): Anthony Yu, Christopher Whaley
Citation: INQUIRY: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing
Date: 09/2024
Type: Document
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Access to Care Report
Infographic highlighting access challenges for nursing homes between 2020 and 2024. Includes data on facility downsizing and closures, supply, and rural nursing home deserts.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Health Care Association
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FY 2025 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) Final Rule – CMS-1808-F
Fact sheet providing an overview of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fiscal year 2025 hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) and long-term care hospital prospective payment system (LTCH PPS) final rule. Includes information about the extension of the low-wage index hospital policy, a separate IPPS payment for small and independent hospitals to establish and maintain a buffer stock of essential medicines, the distribution of graduate medical education (GME) residency slots, updates to quality reporting programs, and more.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Characteristics of People Using Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports, 2021
Presents data on the characteristics of individuals who used Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) in 2021, including age, dual-eligibility status, rural or urban residence, and race and ethnicity. Offers data on home and community-based service (HCBS) users by HCBS program and state plan option types and institutional service users by setting type.
Author(s): Cara Stepanczuk, Alexandra Carpenter, Andrea Wysocki
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Mathematica
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Standing Technical Expert Panel for the Development, Evaluation, and Maintenance of Post-Acute Care (PAC) and Hospice Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Measurement Sets: Summary Report
Describes a December 15, 2023, Technical Expert Panel (TEP) regarding the development of additional cross-setting measures for the Post-Acute Care (PAC) and Hospice Quality Reporting Programs (QRPs), and filling measurement gaps with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Universal Foundation measures. Summarizes TEP comments on adding measures to PAC and Hospice QRPs in four domains: 1) behavioral and mental health, 2) patient experience of care, 3) pain management, and 4) immunization. Covers panelists' discussions on the appropriateness of the existing measure set and potential new measures, setting-specific considerations, data sources, and other topics related to each domain. Includes rural references throughout.
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Abt Associates, Acumen, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
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Skilled Nursing Facilities - Dually Certified in Rural Areas
Printable map that shows the location of skilled nursing facilities and nursing facilities that are dually certified located in rural areas (outside U.S. Census Bureau Urban Areas with a population of 50,000 or more). Data source: data.HRSA.gov, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Date: 07/2024
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Assessing Medicaid Payment Rates and Costs of Caring for the Medicaid Population Residing in Nursing Homes
Explores the relationship between Medicaid per diem payment rates to nursing homes and facilities' costs of providing care to Medicaid patients for facilities with a fiscal year ending on June 30, 2019. Examines the determinants of average cost and payment variations across each state. Presents data by facility-level characteristics, including ownership status, chain affiliation, rural or urban location, and more.
Date: 06/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Miami University, RTI International, University of Massachusetts
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Last Updated: 10/21/2024