Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) face a staffing crisis — annual turnover rates as high as 128% have occurred in some centers, drastically reducing quality of care. This issue becomes worse when paired with regulatory changes that increase minimum care hours per resident per day. Additionally, a skills gap is looming as technology advances and care standards continue to evolve.
Investing in staff training can effectively address these challenges. Training can help increase employee retention, fill in skills gaps, enhance care quality, and boost operational efficiency. First Docs is committed to helping SNFs reach these goals by improving care delivery through the SNFist model. Explore how strategic staff training can impact your center’s performance, support operational excellence, and contribute to meeting care goals.
The more your staff knows, the better your center can balance its goals with quality care and patient needs. That’s because investing in training produces measurable performance results.
For example, training impacts SNF performance through increased clinical knowledge. In healthcare, standards of care and treatment options continuously advance. When staff are trained in the latest clinical practices and potential treatments, they bring that improved expertise to every patient and resident interaction. This training can help them better implement personalized care plans and identify and evaluate your patients’ needs.
Consider specialized training programs for SNF staff based on specific roles or situations — for example, support aides, administrators, and clinicians all require different training. Target programs toward distinct needs that your center addresses, such as chronic care management and creating effective care transitions to minimize readmission risks. This expertise can help promote better outcomes and patient satisfaction by reducing errors and improving care experiences.
Supporting operational excellence via training is essential to avoid civil monetary penalties that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and state jurisdictions can impose for noncompliance.
Targeted training programs drive value by:
Staff training is instrumental in ensuring your center stays compliant with regulations and laws. Through education, your team understands what the regulations require, by whom, when, and how often. These programs also help reinforce accountability, fostering increased regulatory compliance and reducing infraction potential.
Value-based care goals are equally impactful to your bottom line, since this approach relies on positive results to determine reimbursement levels. Offering specific SNF training programs for better patient outcomes empowers your team to deliver and directly contributes to profitability.
For example, the value-based model examines hospital readmission rates as a key metric. A single patient readmission may result in losses of as much as $15,000 in reimbursement. The national average readmission rate is 22.5%, so it’s easy to see how those losses can quickly add up. With practical training, your team can be better equipped with the skills to identify and prevent errors that can lead to readmissions, reducing the potential of this risk.
At First Docs, we provide SNFs with highly trained internal medicine and Primary Care Physicians to deliver personalized, integrated healthcare plans to your patients and residents. Our doctors stay current with clinical best practices and evolving regulations to ensure high-quality care, deliver medical expertise, and support the overall performance of your center.