When 2% isn’t enough: GAO says Medicare should further cut Medicare payments to SNFs with high hospital readmissions

McKnight's August 11, 2021
Danielle Brown

Skilled nursing facilities that continually have high hospital readmission rates and emergency room visits among residents could see a reduction in their Medicare payments if Congress moves forward with a recommendation made by the federal government’s top watchdog.

The Government Accountability Office issued the recommendation in a report Monday that focused on improving SNF staffing. The report found SNFs with low registered nursing staffing levels generally had higher rates of critical incidents than facilities with more RNs on staff.

In 2018, about 23.6% of SNF admissions in the lowest RN staffing group resulted in a hospital readmission within 30 days of the SNF admission date. That’s compared to a 21.3% readmission rate among SNFs in high RN staffing group,...

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