CIHQ-ARS Article

1. While hospital inpatient admissions have rebounded following the declaration of the PHE, the characteristics of hospital inpatient populations have changed, with a probable material effect on post-acute providers.
2. There is high demand for post-acute services, but capacity constraints are preventing some individuals from accessing necessary care in a timely way.
3. The pandemic has solidified preferences for receiving healthcare at home.
4. Intensifying labor shortages are negatively impacting the ability of post-acute providers to improve revenue and financial viability.
5. PAC providers are dealing with higher acuity patients more than before.

Since the Public Health Emergency (PHE) was declared in 2020, much has changed for healthcare providers. But it wasn’t just COVID-19 that precipitated that change; providers went from not worrying much about procurement of equipment, supplies, and biologicals to worrying about it almost constantly as supply chains were weakened and prices rose precipitously due to the global impact of the pandemic.

Many hospitals throughout the country found themselves at capacity without enough staff to fill needed shifts. Skilled nursing facilities were overwhelmed with admissions and the need to keep both family members and other visiting professionals out of buildings to protect residents from infection. Patients who might have previously agreed to facility- based care following an inpatient stay insisted on going home for fear of exposure to the virus. Nurses exited the industry in droves, either through early retirement or in pursuit of other, less stressful ways to make a living. Non-skilled staff members (needed by all types of providers) seemingly disappeared from the labor market overnight, and those that were left began to lobby, often very successfully, for higher wages.

Even now, as the pandemic has begun to wind down, patients are still more likely to end up at home rather than in a post-acute facility. Nurses are still in short supply and the staffing crisis is affecting the ability of many post-acute providers to accept and care for patients as quickly as needed.

The looming question is how — and how long — the changes brought on by COVID-19 will linger. Will new, innovative programs such as the Hospital at Home experiment become permanent fixtures along the continuum of care? Will the healthcare workforce recover — and if so, when? Will hospital admissions and inpatient population characteristics go back to what they were before the PHE? Will SNF referrals and admissions grow, or will they plateau at pre-pandemic levels due to changing patient preference about where care is received? Will looming post-acute reimbursement cuts, together with other pressures, impact access to care in 2023 and beyond? All these questions and more are relevant as we explore where post-acute care is headed.

See research and the full report at: https://careporthealth.com/about/results/opportunities-challenges-the-transformation-of-post-acute-care-in-america/