CMS Finds Significant Reduction of Avoidable Hospitalizations in LTC Residents

​The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has found a 31% reduction in hospitalization rates for potentially avoidable conditions among Medicare and Medicaid dually eligible beneficiaries living in long-term care (LTC) facilities between 2010 and 2015, according to a January 17, 2017, CMS blog post. CMS attributes a significant portion of this reduction to its 2011 initiative to reduce hospitalizations that could potentially be avoided with appropriate outpatient care. The six conditions studied—bacterial pneumonia, urinary tract infections, congestive heart failure, dehydration, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma, and skin ulcers—made up almost one-third of 270,000 LTC hospitalizations in 2015.