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.

Quest for Quality Award

Atrium Health’s Carolinas Rehabilitation, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. was named as the 2019 recipient of the American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Prize. Carolinas Rehabilitation, the first rehabilitation network to win the Quest for Quality Prize, was selected by a multi-disciplinary committee of health care quality and patient safety experts based on its exemplary achievements in engaging with community partners to address social determinants of health, empowering its workforce to excel and innovate and improving access for all patients. Learn more:

Post-Acute Care Member Calls

Post-Acute Care Covid-19 Update Calls

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 Fact Sheet: Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities – A Unique and Critical Service Fact Sheet: Long-term Care Hospitals AHA Comments Re: Questions on Developing a Unified Post-acute Care Prospective Payment System, Feb. 15, 2019 AHA urges CMS, HHS to convene ex...