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The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living will soon face their “most formidable challenge of all,” in delivering a proposal for payment reform to Congress, chairman of the AHCA board of governors Leonard Russ told attendees at the organization’s annual convention in October in San Antonio.

The proposed system, dubbed the Bundled SNF-Stay Prospective Payment System, would replace the existing prospective payment system, and move from a per diem model to a single episodic payment for an entire Part A skilled nursing facility stay. 

The model originated from a need for the long-term care industry to “take control of its destiny.” It would allow SNFs to provide care with fewer regulatory requirements than are associated with the current system, officials said. 

“We will convince Congress there is a better and more cost-effective way to serve the nation’s Medicare beneficiaries,” Russ said.

In a legislative update at the convention, AHCA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Clifton Porter II said advancing the group’s payment reform  model is one of it’s top policy priorities for 2016.