Managed Care Weekly Digest

Research from M.B. Buntin et al has provided new information about medicare and medicaid

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"Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2007;88:1488-93. Each year, more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries are discharged from acute care hospitals into postacute care (PAC) settings, including inpatient rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and homes with services from home health agencies. These beneficiaries include very frail and vulnerable elders, many of whom have suffered from an acute event such as a stroke or a fall resulting in hip fracture, all of whom are judged unable to return to their homes without further care. Whether beneficiaries receive PAC and the type and intensity of care they receive is influenced not only by clinical factors, but by nonclinical factors including provider supply and financing, especially Medicare's methods of payment. This article provides a definition of PAC and discusses the wide cross-sectional variation in the use of postacute rehabilitation. It then discusses recent changes to PAC provider payment that have raised concerns about access to postacute rehabilitation, trends in the use of PAC, and what these trends imply about the appropriateness of PAC as it is now delivered," wrote M.B. Buntin and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "It concludes by identifying issues about the policy and research implications of recent developments and the PAC literature reviewed."

Buntin and colleagues published the results of their research in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Access to postacute rehabilitation. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2007;88(11):1488-1493).

For additional information, contact M.B. Buntin, RAND Health, 1776 Main St., Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA.

The publisher of the journal Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation can be contacted at: W B Saunders Co-Elsevier Inc., 1600 John F Kennedy Boulevard, Ste. 1800, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2899, USA.

Keywords: United States, Santa Monica, Medicare and Medicaid, Health Policy, Hip Fractures, Medicare, Rehabilitation Research.

This article was prepared by Managed Care Weekly Digest editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2008, Managed Care Weekly Digest via NewsRx.com.