This week we are featuring Culture Change to Reduce Hospitalization Using Person-Centered Care, part eight of a 10-part resource series designed by AHCA to support members in reducing rehospitalizations. Hospitalizations can be a detriment to residents, impacting their quality of life and resulting in earlier mortality, immobility, or cognitive decline. Interventions to prevent hospitalization should be person-centered and individualized.

Check out this resource here to learn more!

For more information about the SNF VBP program and to access additional resources and tools, visit the AHCA SNF VBP website. 

About the SNF Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program

Starting October 1, 2018, all Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Medicare Part A rates will be cut by 2 percent to fund an incentive payment pool.

At that time, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will adjust payments and return some amount to providers based on how well they do in managing hospital readmissions by meeting or exceeding performance standards. This CMS effort, the SNF Value Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, links financial outcomes to quality performance. 

Providers may think they don’t have to focus on the SNF VBP program yet as it does not affect payment until 2018. But CMS is currently collecting rehospitalization data that will be used to determine how much centers earn back.