Post-acute Care Advocacy Alliance
What is 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 meets 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.
Featured Resource
Letter to the editor: Knocking Down Barriers to Long-Term Hospital Care
In a letter to the editor published today by KFF Health News, Jim Prister, president and CEO of RML Specialty Hospital and chair of the AHA Post-Acute Steering Committee, urged Congress to address chronic underpayments and insurance barriers that are harming patient care and access to long-term care hospitals. Prister highlighted the importance of LTCHs and how they offer highly personalized care to individuals recovering from a catastrophic illness or injury, and he detailed changes by Congress to reimbursement and other issues that have negatively impacted LTCHs. “Furthermore, insurance company barriers — such as prior authorization requirements put in place by Medicare Advantage plans — are creating harmful delays and denials of necessary and time-sensitive patient care,” Prister wrote. “Consequently, many patients are denied access to an LTCH setting — or transferred to other post-acute care settings like rehabilitation or skilled nursing facilities that aren’t equipped to care for patients with highly complex needs like ventilation.”
For Members
Post-Acute Care Settings
SKILLED NURSING FACILITY
Skilled nursing facilities are a vital part of the care continuum focusing on patients requiring nursing and therapy services following a three-day.
LONG-TERM CARE
Long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) furnish extended medical and rehabilitative care to individuals with clinically complex problems.
INPATIENT REHABILITATION
In a broad sense, rehabilitation services are measures taken to promote optimum attainable levels of physical, cognitive, emotional, health.
HOME HEALTH
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, as amended by the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (OCESAA).
Post-Acute Care Resources
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- Letter: AHA Comments on CMS Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility FY 2026 Proposed Payment Rule (6/10/2025)
- AHA Statement: AHA Statement to House Ways and Means Subcommittee on After the Hospital: Ensuring Access to Quality Post-Acute Care (3/11/2025)
- Fact Sheet: Viable Unified Post-acute Care Payment Model Not Possible Under Current Approach (1/28/2022)