New policy triggers rehab mode change

Individual therapy services are seeing a huge spike across skilled care settings, according to a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report. The shift seems to reveal how a change in payment rules has caused operators to back away from less profitable therapy modes.

Data from CMS indicate that the overall patient case-mix at nursing facilities remains largely unchanged, an indication that residents were not provided significantly less therapy than before. CMS also said that the breakdown of therapy minutes is not significantly different based on whether the facility is a for-profit, nonprofit or government-owned.

Most Medicare patients are in skilled nursing for short-term stays. About 92% of these residents were classified into a rehabilitation category between 2010 and 2011, according to government data.

Although the therapy mode shift has been attributed to revisions in payment by some industry analysts, the general consensus is that it is too early to accurately draw a conclusion.