Assessing Medicare reimbursement options for skilled nursing facility care.
In this article, a broad array of Medicare payment options for skilled nursing home care are examined, ranging from cost-based retrospective systems to various prospective arrangements. Each system contains different incentives to meet four policy goals: provide access for Medicare patients; increase access for patients requiring resource-intensive care; contain growth in program costs; and assure the delivery of high-quality care. The financial impacts of alternative policy options on nursing homes are presented through the use of a simulation model. Facility-specific payment systems are shown to most effectively incorporate incentives to contain costs and promote beneficiary access to care.
D003198:Computer Simulation; D003625:Data Collection; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006278:Medicare / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012866:Skilled Nursing Facilities / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States