LTC trends report: Reimbursement #1 challenge, technology #1 game changer

Long-term care facilities will have to pay attention to staff nurturing, deliver a new generation of quality care and learn some new competitive skills in order to remain financially successful, according to the 28^th Licensed Nursing Facility Cost Comparison, published by CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, one of the nation’s largest firms for healthcare accounting and financial consulting.

Occupancy rates continue to dip: Census rates dropped to 91.5 percent in 2001, compared to 93.6 percent in 2007. Likewise, gross earnings have been on a five-year slide in most U.S. regions, with occasional exceptions in the Midwest. The impacts of national and state healthcare reform initiatives, accountable care organizations and new payment models for dual-eligibles (52 percent of skilled nursing payment still comes from Medicaid) are demanding that LTC providers become more savvy at contracting with their partners, the report notes. A “clear shift away from volume-based reimbursement to value-based reimbursement is underway.”

Challenges can also be turned into competitive opportunities, the report explains. As consumer knowledge of eldercare services continues to increase, a new openness to creative service delivery and corporate culture will be needed. In the effort to prove quality care delivery and streamline business processes for cost-efficiency, “technology is potentially the single-most important phenomenon that can synergize the other driving forces to assure value,” the report says.

The 37-page report is based on the analysis of 450 nursing facilities nationwide, including for-profit and non-profit. The trends and cost ratios in the annual report are placed in the context of a five-year look-back.

Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.