Special Bulletin
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) July 11 issued a proposed rule that would update the home health (HH) prospective payment sy
Post-acute Care
Post-acute care is a growing and essential health and social service, accounting for more $2.7 trillion spent on personal health care, and, of that, almost 15% of total Medicare spending.
The AHA's nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health organizations includes 3,300 post-acute care providers, including free-standing post-acute hospitals and post-acute units. Post-acute care settings include long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and home health agencies. AHA supports enhanced coordination between general acute-care hospitals and post-acute providers to improve overall quality of care and reduce total health spending.
The AHA and its Section for Long-Term Care & Rehabilitation meet the unique needs of post-acute care providers through
- Representation and advocacy
- Participation in public policy development
- Communication, education, and management strategies including specialized education and networking opportunities
- Collaborating with national organizations to lay the foundation for aligned positions on behalf of post-acute care providers across the continuum of care.
Explore Post-acute Care Topics
Long-Term Care Hospital PPS
Long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) furnish extended medical and rehabilitative care to individuals with clinically complex problems, such as multiple acute or chronic conditions, that need hospital-level care for relatively extended periods. To qualify as an LTCH for Medicare payment, ...
Inpatient Rehabilitation PPS
In a broad sense, rehabilitation services are measures taken to promote optimum attainable levels of physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, and economic usefulness, and thereafter to maintain the individual at the maximal functional level.
The term is used to denote ...
Skilled Nursing Facility PPS
Skilled nursing facilities are a vital part of the care continuum focusing on patients requiring nursing and therapy services following a three-day or longer stay in a general acute-care hospital. The Medicare program pays for SNF services through a prospective payment system, with p...
Home Health PPS
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, as amended by the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (OCESAA) of 1999, called for the development and implementation of a prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare home health services. The BBA put in place the inte...
Issues Pertaining to Multiple Post-acute Care Settings
Post-acute Care PPS
AHA urges CMS, HHS to convene expert panels for post-acute care PPS model Feb. 7, 2018
MedPAC recommends 2019 payment update for hospitals, no PAC update Jan. 12, 2018
A Critique of MedPAC’s Post-Acute Care Prospective Payment System Prototype Model Review and Pol...
Related Resources
Fact Sheets
Congress and CMS have set in motion an ambitious plan to significantly reform post-acute care, which includes long-term care hospitals (LTCH), inpatient…
Fact Sheets
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) serve a unique and valuable role within the Medicare program by treating patients who require hospital-level care in…
Letter/Comment
AHA comments on the LTCH provisions in the Centers for Medicare…
Letter/Comment
AHA's comment on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ fiscal year 2020 proposed rule on the SNF prospective payment system.
Letter/Comment
AHA comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ fiscal year 2020 proposed rule for the IRF prospective payment system.