Articles

This article was originally featured in MedCity News. Long-stay skilled nursing facility (SNF) members represent one of the most clinically complex populations served through Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) and remain a foundational component of many state LTSS programs. These members often live with multiple chronic conditions, functional limitations, and ongoing clinical needs that require coordination across providers and care settings. At the same time, avoidable hospital admissions and readmissions remain a major cost driver within LTSS programs. Nationally, potentially preventable inpatient stays account for an estimated $33.7 billion in hospital costs annually. As Medicaid agencies and managed care...read more

This article was originally featured in Skilled Nursing News. As value-based care continues to reshape post-acute environments, skilled nursing providers are being evaluated on more than the care they deliver. Increasingly, success depends on an organization's ability to identify risk early, reduce avoidable hospitalizations, support successful transitions, and demonstrate measurable outcomes for hospitals, health plans, and other value-based partners. Meeting those expectations requires providers to align assessment data, patient status, care planning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and clinical decision-making in real-time. That reality is placing greater focus on one of the most influential, yet often underrecognized, roles in skilled nursing: the Nurse...read more

This article was originally featured in Fierce Healthcare. CMS has set a new direction for accountable care. The Long-term Enhanced ACO Design (LEAD) model, which will replace ACO REACH when it concludes at the end of 2026, spans January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2036 – a full decade of commitment that represents the longest accountable care program CMS has ever tested. For acute care health systems and ACO leaders, LEAD doesn’t just extend the timeline – it fundamentally reshapes how value-based care (VBC) success must be achieved and maintained over time. Where previous models emphasized short-term savings and episodic performance,...read more

This article was originally featured in Skilled Nursing News. This article is sponsored by Real Time Medical Systems (Real Time). With CMS’s Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) now in effect as of January 1, 2026, hospitals face increased responsibility for surgical episodes and post-acute care coordination. Under TEAM, hospitals are accountable for outcomes and costs for 30 days post-discharge, elevating the role of SNFs in recovery and in preventing readmissions. In this Voices interview, Phyllis Wojtusik, RN, Executive Vice President of Value-Based Care at Real Time, discusses TEAM’s implications for hospitals and SNFs, how collaboration is evolving across the continuum,...read more