Comparison of rural and urban skilled nursing facility benefit use.
In this article, differences in use of Medicare's skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit in urban and rural areas are examined. Using SNF benefit bills from 1987, the study finds that there appear to be systematic differences by residential location both in the level of use of the benefit and in whether enrollees are admitted to nursing homes and hospital swing beds. Rural Medicare enrollees use the SNF benefit at a rate that is 15 percent higher than the rate for urban enrollees. Furthermore, the swing-bed program appears to play a critical role in providing access to post-acute care for the rural elderly. In rural areas, almost 29 percent of all SNF benefit admissions are to swing beds.
Urban Institute, Washington, DC 20037.
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D000368:Aged; D001508:Bed Conversion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D003710:Demography; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data