On March 13, over 250 members attended the AHCA PDPM Academy Workshop to learn what they need to do to get ready for the new Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM). In the March 2019 issue of Provider Magazine, AHCA Senior Vice President of Reimbursement Policy Mike Cheek explains some of the upcoming changes that will impact how skilled nursing providers structure patient care.

The transition to PDPM eliminates therapy minutes as a metric for Medicare reimbursement and replaces it with policies that emphasize a “holistic” approach to care. Cheek explains this transition means providers will need to improve staff communication, which he says is currently “not well structured and generally not sufficient … [to] meet CMS expectations for holistic care” in many skilled nursing facilities. Cheek concludes that providers should “should open discussions, now, with their nursing and therapy staff to assess how they currently communicate and operate compared with what is needed under PDPM.” 

Read the full article: Reshaping Skilled Nursing Facility Communication Practices (providermagazine.com, March 2019)