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HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsCreate engaging and impactful learning experiences that meet the unique needs of your acute care staff.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThe Medicare Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) was implemented October 1, 2019. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), representing one of multiple rehabilitative professions to which the change applies, describes the PDPM as a “major overhaul to the current skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS)… designed to address concerns that a payment system based on the volume of services provided creates inappropriate financial incentives. This revised payment methodology is driven by the patient's clinical characteristics rather than the number of therapy minutes provided.” Now that the PDPM has been in effect for more than 18 months, it is time to assess its impact. Here are a few sources that attempt to do that:
An article in McKnight’s Long-Term Care News offers that the “efficacy of the Patient-Driven Payment Model has never been clearer than now, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.” It mentions a recent analysis showing that the “PDPM enabled skilled nursing facilities to see a 9% increase in Medicare reimbursement in the early days of the outbreak.” Converting from Medicare rates “based on the number of therapy minutes provided to any given patient... to a daily reimbursement rate determined by patient classification,” has been a very positive change where payment “is driven by the needs of the patient, not the services rendered.”
The PDPM was designed to ensure patients get better skilled nursing care while preventing the ability of some operators to game the system by providing unnecessary services. According to Skilled Nursing News, even before the pandemic, “The few pre-COVID months of PDPM data raised concerns that far more winners than losers were emerging under the system, which was intended to pay out the same total amount of Medicare dollars on skilled nursing care as…” the previous reimbursement model. Few payment structure changes have been made during COVID-19, which means that “Anyone looking for long-term patterns in the COVID-era PDPM data, however, must do so with extreme caution. The system generated several pandemic-related boosts that are unlikely to continue past the emergency.”
RevCycle Intelligence reports on a study finding that “physical therapist and occupational therapist staffing levels at SNFs fell by 5 percent to 6 percent from October to December 2019 compared to the period before Medicare implemented the Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM).” The article offers, “The financial incentives of the PDPM have been associated with SNF staffing changes shortly after implementation, but further research is needed to determine whether staffing changes—or changes in types of therapy, as a result—have impacted patient outcomes.” The past year of the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s impact on much of healthcare may make it impossible to determine whether this decrease was “a ‘right-sizing’ of therapy departments that were previously designed to deliver financially motivated therapy of limited clinical benefit or a form of skimping that limits patients’ access to needed rehabilitation services.”
A HealthStream blog post dating from the transition to PDPM offered the following suggestions: “If more therapy and a more robust rehabilitation program produces better outcomes for elders, are we setting up SNF residents for worse outcomes under PDPM? Possibly. That is not to say we should go back to payments based on therapy minutes. However, we should invest in rigorous measurement and reporting of rehabilitation outcomes under PDPM, so both providers and residents can optimize care, and CMS can adjust payments accordingly.” Unfortunately, it appears that COVID-19 has served to delay the process for understanding and correcting the truly negative impacts of PDPM. Undoubtedly, CMS will be playing catch up with current crisis situations have abated.
Nursing homes and skilled care facilities that continue to excel are those that treat residents as people worthy of respect, regardless of medical condition or funding source—and regardless of the pressures felt by staff. HealthStream works with skilled nursing and LTC facilities to address these challenges, from keeping pace with regulatory requirements to engaging and developing competent staff who can satisfy the demands of increased patient complexity. HealthStream solutions for skilled nursing and long-term care equip organizations to seamlessly manage the pressures of surveyor visits, while remaining focused on high-quality patient and resident care.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products