Skilled nursing operators have a new tool in their marketing kits to portray themselves as worthy providers of good clinical care.
Residents with pre-existing healthcare-associated infections are less likely to be readmitted to a hospital when discharged to a skilled nursing facility as opposed to a home-health setting, according to University of Michigan researchers.
The study found that SNF residents with HAIs were 38% less likely of being readmitted when compared to patients who returned home or received home health care services. The most common reasons for all readmissions included Clostridioides difficile and urinary tract infections.
Investigators used national hospital discharge data from more than 702,000 Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older. About 353,000 of those seniors, or 50%, were discharged to a SNF. About 179,400 (26%) were discharged to home health care and about 169,800 (24%) were sent home.
Findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
