The Future of Skilled Nursing: Supplanting Hospitals and Home-Based Care?
May 8, 2015 | Aging Services Risk Management
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Two recent stories highlight conjecture on the future of skilled nursing care, arguing in one case that nursing homes are supplanting hospitals as a focus of healthcare, and in the second that future generations will be more likely to receive skilled nursing care in their homes. The first article, published April 28, 2015, in the New York Times, lists the many adverse outcomes that can befall older adults in hospitals, including infections, falls, delirium, functional decline, problems with medication reconciliation, and more. Given these many downsides, more skilled nursing facilities are seeking to provide more basic healthcare either on-site or at affiliated outpatient facilities, especially with the advent of coordinated accountable care organizations.