Length of stay (LOS) in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) is more than the difference between the date of admission and discharge. It’s a key metric for your center’s performance. This number demonstrates treatment plan effectiveness, helps indicate patient progress, and allows for efficient resource planning.
Optimizing LOS is essential for improving patient and resident care, aligning with value-based care initiatives, and reaching financial goals. First Docs provides primary care and internal medicine physicians for SNFs through a patient-centered SNFist model that supports these outcomes. Learning more about this approach and its financial impacts is important for understanding the value of leveraging a SNFist model in your center for LOS improvements.
Optimizing length of stay in SNFs means overcoming common challenges, including barriers to timely discharge and balancing efficiency with quality care.
Start by identifying and addressing the root causes of discharge delays. Staffing shortages persist in SNFs, with 54% of centers in a recent survey reporting their workforce situation has remained stagnant or worsened over the past six months. A lack of qualified labor can directly lead to inadequate discharge planning and coordination, increasing LOS.
Once you pinpoint your SNF-specific factors contributing to discharge delays, you can design proactive strategies to resolve them. A SNFist model is a practical solution to improve interdisciplinary collaboration and care management.
Quality patient care is nonnegotiable, so SNFs must optimize LOS carefully to prevent prioritizing financial efficiency over high-quality care. Reducing LOS should not come at the expense of increased complications or readmissions. Personalized treatment plans through a SNFist model are an effective way to promote a balance between costs and care.
A SNFist model works by focusing on physician-led and integrated care that produces better clinical outcomes. Internal medicine physicians function as on-site primary care doctors for patients who need intensive, complex care. They take a patient-first approach, designing customized care plans based on a thorough assessment, coordination with other care team members, and management of transitions.
Implementing a SNFist model directly contributes to LOS optimization because it emphasizes individual patient and resident needs. Enhanced collaboration with other healthcare providers also helps ensure fewer unnecessary discharge delays.
Per-day reimbursement creates a monetary tightrope. A short stay means less revenue. But an overly long one can translate into excessive costs due to extended care. Both require careful balance with patient needs to optimize LOS.
In addition, the shift to value-based care for SNFs means an ongoing commitment to integrated, effective treatment management. SNFs that implement this approach receive payment based on positive patient outcomes, generating longer-term savings since the improved results lead to fewer future care costs.
Additional considerations for managing the financial impact of length of stay in skilled nursing facilities include:
There are many positive connections between the SNFist model and LOS management, including:
There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all healthcare. Effective resident and patient care starts with an individualized treatment plan that centers on their unique requirements. When patients receive the quality of SNF care they need to address health concerns, recovery and discharge happen faster.
For example, a patient may need more physical therapy to help strengthen their balance and prevent unnecessary falls. In a physician-led SNFist model, the doctor can coordinate extra sessions so the patient is ready for safe discharge sooner.
SNFs oversee many moving parts and patient needs with varying levels of complexity. Effective care coordination is key to smoother transitions, whether from hospital to SNF or SNF to home.
A centralized physician leading the individualized strategy, communicating with other providers, and orchestrating care efforts is the best way to ensure attention to every critical detail. SNFs that invest in this enhanced collaboration see measurable decreases in patient readmissions. For example, one study found that coordinated discharge planning among the care team dropped hospital readmission rates from 44% to 31%.
Engaged families create more positive outcomes. The SNFist model generates more active participation in care by enhancing communication, streamlining decision-making, and preventing unnecessary delays.
Technology has emerged as a powerful solution for creating higher involvement. For example, patient portals provide families with increased communication access. A review of five studies found that implementing these tools decreased LOS or hospital readmissions.
Your SNF-specific data is a gold mine for optimizing LOS. With advanced analytics, you gain actionable insights into the unique metrics impacting LOS at your center.
Leverage this information for LOS optimization by tracking key performance indicators, such as the number of preventable adverse incidents. Avoidable complications can arise during intensive, complex treatment plans, and they unnecessarily prolong a patient’s stay. Examples may include monitoring fall rates or pressure ulcer prevalence. Examining the number and frequency of preventable adverse incidents that patients experience in your SNF empowers you to spot patterns and implement practical improvement strategies.
Electronic health records (EHRs) are another data source for patient-level insights. Real-time data aids in monitoring patient progress toward recovery, so you can time discharge more accurately. Research on EHR implementation in SNFs indisputably demonstrates improved care quality, fewer infections, and reduced medication errors — all positively influencing LOS.
First Docs is a leading provider of doctors with experience in implementing physician-led care in SNFs. Our internal medicine and Primary Care Physicians are on-site up to five days a week, balancing patient-centric treatment plans and LOS to help improve clinical outcomes, satisfaction, and financial results.
Connect with us online for expert advice on integrating the SNFist model into your center.