Hospitalizations High for Medicare Nursing Home Residents

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a study on November 17, 2013 studying 2011 hospitalization statistics for Medicare nursing home residents. The report finds that one quarter of Medicare nursing home residents were hospitalized for at least one day in federal fiscal year 2011. The study also reports that Medicare costs for nursing home residents represent 11.4% of the Medicare Part A spending on all hospital admissions during that same year resulting in Medicare paying $126 billion for those stays. Interestingly, high hospitalization rates were not evenly distributed throughout the country and generally nursing homes with lower CMS quality ratings had higher hospitalization rates. OIG recommends to CMS the development of a quality measurement report hospitalization rates for residents in each nursing home and to publicly report such measures. You can find a copy of the study here —> SNF Hospitalization Study