Under current reimbursement methods, the Medicare program pays more per day for a skilled nursing patient in a Critical Access Hospital (CAH) swing bed than it does for a similar patient who is in a skilled nursing facility. This study assessed the financial impact of changing CAH swing bed reimbursement from the current cost-based system to the skilled nursing facility (SNF) prospective payment system (PPS).

Publications

• Estimated Reduction in CAH Profitability From Loss of Cost‐Based Reimbursement for Swing Beds
  Policy Brief
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 05/2020
  The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of potential loss of cost-based reimbursement for swing beds on Critical Access Hospital (CAH) profitability and to examine the characteristics of CAHs that would be most affected by such a change in reimbursement.