Tonja Williams, MSN, RN, president and chief executive officer of Continuing Care Hospital, a part of KentuckyOne Health, in Lexington has been selected to serve on the governing council of the American Hospital Association (AHA) Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Section for Kentucky's region. Her three-year term will begin on January 1, 2016, and extend through December 31, 2018.

This Section focuses on the interests and concerns of post-acute care providers — long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs,) inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health agencies (HHAs). The primary goals for Williams's term will be to advise AHA on public policy issues, advocacy positions, emerging issues and member service strategies as well as to serve as a channel back to her peers.

AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation seeks to promote and enhance the understanding of the health and related continuing care needs of persons of all ages, and of the issues...

KHA has created a new Post Acute Care (PAC) Leaders Forum in light of the many post acute care reform proposals put forth by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the Obama Administration and the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) — all of which have various implication on the post acute care delivery system. Proposals have included Site Neutral Payment, Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) 75% Rule, Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Readmission Penalty and Bundled Payment.

As outlined in Article VII of the KHA Bylaws concerning forums, the new Post Acute Care Leaders Forum will convene for the purpose of providing opportunities to collaborate, network and educate on related issues and make recommendations to the KHA Board of Trustees on Policy issues impacting services related to post acute care.

Post acute care providers play an important role in the continuum of care for patients, providing important services to those recovering from an acute hospital stay. Post acute care includes...

On March 18, the U.S. House Ways & Means and Senate Finance Committees released a draft legislative proposal aimed at changing post-acute care (PAC) reporting requirements. The changes would be used to find common parameters to: 1) Compare quality across PAC settings;  2) Improve hospital and PAC discharge planning; and 3) Use this information to reform PAC payments (via site neutral or bundled payments or some other reform) while ensuring continued beneficiary access to the most appropriate setting of care.

An analysis and commentary on this possible step toward bundling/site neutral payments was provided by KHA Washington liaison Larry Goldberg.

 

The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) Kentucky Chapter Winter Education Institute will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Louisville on January 23-24. Attendees can earn 12.6 CPE credits and will learn from a panel of six Kentucky hospital chief executive officers about Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs) and how utilizing the LTACH level of care can improve patient outcomes and a community hospital’s bottom line. Attendees will learn how LTACHs are quality, cost-effective alternatives to long stays in a community hospital ICU, and the importance of managing average length of stay (ALOS) for patients who will move to post-acute care (PAC) providers. 

There are eight LTACHs in Kentucky. They are acute care hospitals, treating critically ill patients who are stable, but still very sick with complex medical conditions. LTACHs offer slower and more supervised care for the sickest of patients; about 2 percent of all Medicare patients are discharged to an LTACH where a team of doctors and nurses can continue to take care of the patient's complex needs. LTACHs are not nursing homes or skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). 

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