The codependent Medicare/Medicaid duopsony can no longer balance the SNF financial equation. Medicare Advantage, Alternative Payment Models, and ill-conceived experiments with Managed Medicaid LTC created structural deficiencies the current economic model was not designed to absorb.
Skilled Nursing was saved from pandemic distress by emergency federal funding. Now, in the face of comprehensive reform, policymakers must fortify the industry’s reimbursement foundation. Reliable data is essential for success; without it, a decades old incongruity threatens to destabilize the entire healthcare continuum.