Authors
Laes-Kushner, RebeccaUMass Chan Affiliations
Commonwealth Medicine, Center for Health Law and EconomicsDocument Type
Blog PostPublication Date
2018-03-27Keywords
skilled nursing facilitiesMedicaid
Medicare
home and community-based services
nursing facility beds
costs
Geriatrics
Health Economics
Health Law and Policy
Health Policy
Health Services Administration
Health Services Research
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More than 15,500 skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) provide care to more than 1.35 million people in the United States who need assistance with their Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), including going to the toilet, getting out of bed, getting dressed, feeding themselves, and showering, or who have cognitive difficulties, such as from dementia. Nationally, SNF use has declined as people live longer and choose home and community-based services (HCBS) over institutional care. From 2004 to 2014, the percentage of people age 65 and older in nursing homes dropped from 3.6% to 2.5%, a decrease of 24.5%. In addition, the number of people age 65 and older in nursing homes decreased 11.7% during the same time period, from 1.32 million to 1.16 million. By comparison, the number of nursing facility beds has only decreased 3.9% during the same time period. This disparity leads to overbedding, which, as I explain below, drives up Medicaid costs unnecessarily.DOI
10.13028/13cj-ay30Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/26962Notes
Blog post to Commonwealth Medicine's website - View blog post online
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© 2018 University of Massachusetts Medical Schoolae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.13028/13cj-ay30
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