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Using post-acute and long-term care quality report cards
The challenges of hospital discharge planning are well known and yet have not been adequately addressed by hospitalists and discharge teams. As the complexity of patient care needs has grown, so has the difficulty in developing appropriate discharge goals for post-acute and long term care (LTC), choosing the appropriate setting(s), and selecting appropriate providers. Post-acute and LTC needs may include rehabilitation, nursing care, home health, supportive services, and/or palliative care1 in an institutional setting or at home from a wide array of providers with varying levels of quality.
Even though 52% of U.S. hospitals received penalties for having higher-than-expected readmissions between 2013 and 2017,2 inadequate discharge planning for post-acute and LTC continues to contribute to high rates of all-cause 30-day rehospitalization. The discharge process sometimes is deficient in: discussion of goals; assessment of discharge needs; appropriate choice of discharge locations; and the provision of additional or different home services.3 Discharge decisions are complicated by the stressful circumstances of hospitalization and discharge deadlines.
Hospital discharge planning decisions fall heavily on patients, families, and caregivers, often with inadequate information about choices and options. More than 30 states have passed the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act into law to require hospitals to provide resources for family caregiver education and instruction,7 but hospitals do not have to provide information on all LTC options and provider quality ratings.
Quality report cards about LTC providers – a major innovation for consumer education and choice – are often not used in the discharge process for a number of reasons. A significant concern is that using report cards will extend the length of stay. Rather than extending the decision-making time and the length of stay, the use of report cards can reduce length of stay.9 A focus on identifying the first available nursing home bed or LTC provider often ignores the need to identify the most appropriate high-quality providers.
Hospitals and health plans often have established networks of post-acute and LTC providers and these networks must be taken into account in the discharge process. Most hospital and health plan networks have providers with a wide range of ratings, allowing for choices within networks.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established a web-based nursing home report card called Nursing Home Compare in 1998 that includes information on facility characteristics, deficiencies, staffing information (since 2000), and resident quality indicators (since 2002). In 2008, the website added a “five-star” rating system for all U.S. nursing homes and all-cause 30-day readmission rates and successful discharge rates from nursing homes were incorporated into the ratings in 2016.
CMS also established a web-based home health website, which provides quality ratings. This website has general information, quality measures, and patient surveys with information on readmission rates from home health agency services.
After establishment of the CMS Nursing Home Compare rating system in 2008, nursing homes improved their scores on certain quality measures and consumer demand significantly increased for the best (5-star) facilities and decreased for 1-star facilities.10 More recently, a clinical trial of the use of a personalized version of Nursing Home Compare in the hospital discharge planning process found greater patient satisfaction, patients being more likely to go to higher ranked nursing homes, patients traveling further to nursing homes, and patients having shorter hospital stays, compared with the control group.9
Quality report cards show wide variations within and across states ranging from one star (poorest quality) to five stars (highest quality). More than one-third of nursing homes had relatively low overall star ratings (1 or 2 stars) serving 39 percent of residents in 2015.11 Federal nursing home regulatory violations range from zero to more than 40 deficiencies (average of 7) with a scope and severity ranging from minor to widespread harm or jeopardy (including deaths).12 Total nurse staffing hours (average, 4.1 hours per resident day) range from less than 3 hours to more than 5.5 hours per resident day and RN hours are 3.5 times higher in some nursing homes than in the lowest staffed homes.13 Hospital readmission rates for short-stay residents from nursing homes also vary widely (4%-52%; average, 21%).12,14
Hospitalists and discharge planners should inform patients, families, and caregivers about the federal and state LTC quality report cards, provide education and choices, and engage and assist them in the decision making process. Hospitals, health plans, and accountable care organizations also need to be more informed about the availability of and benefits of using quality report cards for developing post-acute and LTC provider networks. The use of high quality LTC network providers should be able to reduce hospital length of stay and hospital readmission rates, and improve patient and caregiver satisfaction.
Charlene Harrington, PhD, RN, is professor of sociology and nursing; Leslie Ross, PhD, is a research specialist and principal investigator of the Calqualitycare.org website project; and Jeffrey Newman, MD, MPH, is a professor at the Institute for Health and Aging, all at the University of California, San Francisco.
References
1. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.
2. Thompson, MP, Waters, TM, Kaplan et al. Most hospitals received annual penalties for excess readmissions, but some fared better than others. Health Aff (Millwood). 36(5):893-901.
3. Auerbach AD et al. Preventability and causes of readmissions in a national cohort of general medicine patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(4):484-93.
4. Jack B et al. A reengineered hospital discharge program to decrease rehospitalization: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150(3):178-87.
5. Hansen LO et al. Project BOOST: effectiveness of a multihospital effort to reduce rehospitalization. J Hosp Med. 2013;8(8)421-7.
6. Naylor MD et al. The care span: The importance of transitional care in achieving health reform. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(4):746-54.
7. Coleman EA. Family caregivers as partners in care transitions: The caregiver advise record and enable act. J Hosp Med. 2016 Dec;11(12):883-5.
8. Leppin AL et al. Preventing 30-day hospital readmissions: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. JAMA Internal Med. 2014;174(7):1095-107.
9. Mukamel DB et al. Personalizing nursing home compare and the discharge from hospitals to nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;1(6):2076-2094.
10. Werner RM et al. Changes in consumer demand following public reporting of summary quality ratings: An evaluation in nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;51 Suppl 2:1291-309.
11. Boccuti C et al. Reading the stars: nursing home quality star ratings, nationally and by state. Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief. May 2015.
12. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Nursing home compare data archives. May 2017 monthly files. Quality MSR Claims data. https://data.medicare.gov/data/archives/nursing-home-compare. Accessed July 15, 2017.
13. Harrington C et al. The need for higher minimum staffing standards in U.S. nursing homes. Health Serv Insights. 2016;9:13-9.
14. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.
The challenges of hospital discharge planning are well known and yet have not been adequately addressed by hospitalists and discharge teams. As the complexity of patient care needs has grown, so has the difficulty in developing appropriate discharge goals for post-acute and long term care (LTC), choosing the appropriate setting(s), and selecting appropriate providers. Post-acute and LTC needs may include rehabilitation, nursing care, home health, supportive services, and/or palliative care1 in an institutional setting or at home from a wide array of providers with varying levels of quality.
Even though 52% of U.S. hospitals received penalties for having higher-than-expected readmissions between 2013 and 2017,2 inadequate discharge planning for post-acute and LTC continues to contribute to high rates of all-cause 30-day rehospitalization. The discharge process sometimes is deficient in: discussion of goals; assessment of discharge needs; appropriate choice of discharge locations; and the provision of additional or different home services.3 Discharge decisions are complicated by the stressful circumstances of hospitalization and discharge deadlines.
Hospital discharge planning decisions fall heavily on patients, families, and caregivers, often with inadequate information about choices and options. More than 30 states have passed the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act into law to require hospitals to provide resources for family caregiver education and instruction,7 but hospitals do not have to provide information on all LTC options and provider quality ratings.
Quality report cards about LTC providers – a major innovation for consumer education and choice – are often not used in the discharge process for a number of reasons. A significant concern is that using report cards will extend the length of stay. Rather than extending the decision-making time and the length of stay, the use of report cards can reduce length of stay.9 A focus on identifying the first available nursing home bed or LTC provider often ignores the need to identify the most appropriate high-quality providers.
Hospitals and health plans often have established networks of post-acute and LTC providers and these networks must be taken into account in the discharge process. Most hospital and health plan networks have providers with a wide range of ratings, allowing for choices within networks.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established a web-based nursing home report card called Nursing Home Compare in 1998 that includes information on facility characteristics, deficiencies, staffing information (since 2000), and resident quality indicators (since 2002). In 2008, the website added a “five-star” rating system for all U.S. nursing homes and all-cause 30-day readmission rates and successful discharge rates from nursing homes were incorporated into the ratings in 2016.
CMS also established a web-based home health website, which provides quality ratings. This website has general information, quality measures, and patient surveys with information on readmission rates from home health agency services.
After establishment of the CMS Nursing Home Compare rating system in 2008, nursing homes improved their scores on certain quality measures and consumer demand significantly increased for the best (5-star) facilities and decreased for 1-star facilities.10 More recently, a clinical trial of the use of a personalized version of Nursing Home Compare in the hospital discharge planning process found greater patient satisfaction, patients being more likely to go to higher ranked nursing homes, patients traveling further to nursing homes, and patients having shorter hospital stays, compared with the control group.9
Quality report cards show wide variations within and across states ranging from one star (poorest quality) to five stars (highest quality). More than one-third of nursing homes had relatively low overall star ratings (1 or 2 stars) serving 39 percent of residents in 2015.11 Federal nursing home regulatory violations range from zero to more than 40 deficiencies (average of 7) with a scope and severity ranging from minor to widespread harm or jeopardy (including deaths).12 Total nurse staffing hours (average, 4.1 hours per resident day) range from less than 3 hours to more than 5.5 hours per resident day and RN hours are 3.5 times higher in some nursing homes than in the lowest staffed homes.13 Hospital readmission rates for short-stay residents from nursing homes also vary widely (4%-52%; average, 21%).12,14
Hospitalists and discharge planners should inform patients, families, and caregivers about the federal and state LTC quality report cards, provide education and choices, and engage and assist them in the decision making process. Hospitals, health plans, and accountable care organizations also need to be more informed about the availability of and benefits of using quality report cards for developing post-acute and LTC provider networks. The use of high quality LTC network providers should be able to reduce hospital length of stay and hospital readmission rates, and improve patient and caregiver satisfaction.
Charlene Harrington, PhD, RN, is professor of sociology and nursing; Leslie Ross, PhD, is a research specialist and principal investigator of the Calqualitycare.org website project; and Jeffrey Newman, MD, MPH, is a professor at the Institute for Health and Aging, all at the University of California, San Francisco.
References
1. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.
2. Thompson, MP, Waters, TM, Kaplan et al. Most hospitals received annual penalties for excess readmissions, but some fared better than others. Health Aff (Millwood). 36(5):893-901.
3. Auerbach AD et al. Preventability and causes of readmissions in a national cohort of general medicine patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(4):484-93.
4. Jack B et al. A reengineered hospital discharge program to decrease rehospitalization: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150(3):178-87.
5. Hansen LO et al. Project BOOST: effectiveness of a multihospital effort to reduce rehospitalization. J Hosp Med. 2013;8(8)421-7.
6. Naylor MD et al. The care span: The importance of transitional care in achieving health reform. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(4):746-54.
7. Coleman EA. Family caregivers as partners in care transitions: The caregiver advise record and enable act. J Hosp Med. 2016 Dec;11(12):883-5.
8. Leppin AL et al. Preventing 30-day hospital readmissions: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. JAMA Internal Med. 2014;174(7):1095-107.
9. Mukamel DB et al. Personalizing nursing home compare and the discharge from hospitals to nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;1(6):2076-2094.
10. Werner RM et al. Changes in consumer demand following public reporting of summary quality ratings: An evaluation in nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;51 Suppl 2:1291-309.
11. Boccuti C et al. Reading the stars: nursing home quality star ratings, nationally and by state. Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief. May 2015.
12. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Nursing home compare data archives. May 2017 monthly files. Quality MSR Claims data. https://data.medicare.gov/data/archives/nursing-home-compare. Accessed July 15, 2017.
13. Harrington C et al. The need for higher minimum staffing standards in U.S. nursing homes. Health Serv Insights. 2016;9:13-9.
14. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.
The challenges of hospital discharge planning are well known and yet have not been adequately addressed by hospitalists and discharge teams. As the complexity of patient care needs has grown, so has the difficulty in developing appropriate discharge goals for post-acute and long term care (LTC), choosing the appropriate setting(s), and selecting appropriate providers. Post-acute and LTC needs may include rehabilitation, nursing care, home health, supportive services, and/or palliative care1 in an institutional setting or at home from a wide array of providers with varying levels of quality.
Even though 52% of U.S. hospitals received penalties for having higher-than-expected readmissions between 2013 and 2017,2 inadequate discharge planning for post-acute and LTC continues to contribute to high rates of all-cause 30-day rehospitalization. The discharge process sometimes is deficient in: discussion of goals; assessment of discharge needs; appropriate choice of discharge locations; and the provision of additional or different home services.3 Discharge decisions are complicated by the stressful circumstances of hospitalization and discharge deadlines.
Hospital discharge planning decisions fall heavily on patients, families, and caregivers, often with inadequate information about choices and options. More than 30 states have passed the Caregiver Advise, Record, and Enable (CARE) Act into law to require hospitals to provide resources for family caregiver education and instruction,7 but hospitals do not have to provide information on all LTC options and provider quality ratings.
Quality report cards about LTC providers – a major innovation for consumer education and choice – are often not used in the discharge process for a number of reasons. A significant concern is that using report cards will extend the length of stay. Rather than extending the decision-making time and the length of stay, the use of report cards can reduce length of stay.9 A focus on identifying the first available nursing home bed or LTC provider often ignores the need to identify the most appropriate high-quality providers.
Hospitals and health plans often have established networks of post-acute and LTC providers and these networks must be taken into account in the discharge process. Most hospital and health plan networks have providers with a wide range of ratings, allowing for choices within networks.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established a web-based nursing home report card called Nursing Home Compare in 1998 that includes information on facility characteristics, deficiencies, staffing information (since 2000), and resident quality indicators (since 2002). In 2008, the website added a “five-star” rating system for all U.S. nursing homes and all-cause 30-day readmission rates and successful discharge rates from nursing homes were incorporated into the ratings in 2016.
CMS also established a web-based home health website, which provides quality ratings. This website has general information, quality measures, and patient surveys with information on readmission rates from home health agency services.
After establishment of the CMS Nursing Home Compare rating system in 2008, nursing homes improved their scores on certain quality measures and consumer demand significantly increased for the best (5-star) facilities and decreased for 1-star facilities.10 More recently, a clinical trial of the use of a personalized version of Nursing Home Compare in the hospital discharge planning process found greater patient satisfaction, patients being more likely to go to higher ranked nursing homes, patients traveling further to nursing homes, and patients having shorter hospital stays, compared with the control group.9
Quality report cards show wide variations within and across states ranging from one star (poorest quality) to five stars (highest quality). More than one-third of nursing homes had relatively low overall star ratings (1 or 2 stars) serving 39 percent of residents in 2015.11 Federal nursing home regulatory violations range from zero to more than 40 deficiencies (average of 7) with a scope and severity ranging from minor to widespread harm or jeopardy (including deaths).12 Total nurse staffing hours (average, 4.1 hours per resident day) range from less than 3 hours to more than 5.5 hours per resident day and RN hours are 3.5 times higher in some nursing homes than in the lowest staffed homes.13 Hospital readmission rates for short-stay residents from nursing homes also vary widely (4%-52%; average, 21%).12,14
Hospitalists and discharge planners should inform patients, families, and caregivers about the federal and state LTC quality report cards, provide education and choices, and engage and assist them in the decision making process. Hospitals, health plans, and accountable care organizations also need to be more informed about the availability of and benefits of using quality report cards for developing post-acute and LTC provider networks. The use of high quality LTC network providers should be able to reduce hospital length of stay and hospital readmission rates, and improve patient and caregiver satisfaction.
Charlene Harrington, PhD, RN, is professor of sociology and nursing; Leslie Ross, PhD, is a research specialist and principal investigator of the Calqualitycare.org website project; and Jeffrey Newman, MD, MPH, is a professor at the Institute for Health and Aging, all at the University of California, San Francisco.
References
1. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.
2. Thompson, MP, Waters, TM, Kaplan et al. Most hospitals received annual penalties for excess readmissions, but some fared better than others. Health Aff (Millwood). 36(5):893-901.
3. Auerbach AD et al. Preventability and causes of readmissions in a national cohort of general medicine patients. JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(4):484-93.
4. Jack B et al. A reengineered hospital discharge program to decrease rehospitalization: a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2009;150(3):178-87.
5. Hansen LO et al. Project BOOST: effectiveness of a multihospital effort to reduce rehospitalization. J Hosp Med. 2013;8(8)421-7.
6. Naylor MD et al. The care span: The importance of transitional care in achieving health reform. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(4):746-54.
7. Coleman EA. Family caregivers as partners in care transitions: The caregiver advise record and enable act. J Hosp Med. 2016 Dec;11(12):883-5.
8. Leppin AL et al. Preventing 30-day hospital readmissions: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. JAMA Internal Med. 2014;174(7):1095-107.
9. Mukamel DB et al. Personalizing nursing home compare and the discharge from hospitals to nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;1(6):2076-2094.
10. Werner RM et al. Changes in consumer demand following public reporting of summary quality ratings: An evaluation in nursing homes. Health Serv Res. 2016;51 Suppl 2:1291-309.
11. Boccuti C et al. Reading the stars: nursing home quality star ratings, nationally and by state. Kaiser Family Foundation Issue Brief. May 2015.
12. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Nursing home compare data archives. May 2017 monthly files. Quality MSR Claims data. https://data.medicare.gov/data/archives/nursing-home-compare. Accessed July 15, 2017.
13. Harrington C et al. The need for higher minimum staffing standards in U.S. nursing homes. Health Serv Insights. 2016;9:13-9.
14. Mor V et al. The revolving door of rehospitalization from skilled nursing facilities. Health Aff (Millwood). 2010;29(1):57-64.