Looking to the future, skilled nursing facilities will need to get creative and find new ways to attract patients and their families in a post-acute care continuum that’s becoming more and more crowded and competitive.
A report from Plante Moran looking at how SNFs can rebound from the pandemic shows that nearly 500 surveyed by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living reported they were already operating at a loss and 72% did not expect to last another year at the current pace.
As operators begin to move forward past the pandemic, researchers with Plante Moran suggest finding ways to stand out will be key in bringing in new patients.
“If a SNF can show that they have high-quality ratings, low readmission rates, and they can care for higher complexity patients at a lower cost than another setting, that is going to be an attractive value proposition for a hospital or health system,” the study reported.
For American Health Partners, achieving The Joint Commission accreditation is one way the organization hopes its skilled nursing facilities can solidify their standing with the public and people they serve.
“When families are looking for a place to go, how do they evaluate the quality of care?” AHP VP of Marketing Dan MacDonald asked in an interview with SNN. “What, besides referrals, and talking to other folks… there’s only one nationally recognized standard that you can point to and that’s The Joint Commission.”
American Health Partners announced this month that 28 of its 29 skilled nursing facilities in Tennessee (one of which is in Huntsville, Alabama) received the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission.
The Franklin, Tenn.-based firm operates 29 SNFs through its American Health Care arm, and Nina Monroe, vice president of quality and clinical operations for American Health Partners, said the organization is working on getting no. 29 approved this year.
“We continuously improve and work to improve the care we provide and being able to reach the benefits of the accreditation was an excellent way to get that done,” she said.
She added that she sees the accreditation as a way to ensure stimulating continuous improvement as it remains a huge boost for what the organization wants to say to its customers.
“When you’re asking the question of is this the best place for mom… this is a great way to answer that question,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald felt the national scrutiny nursing home care have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized AHC’s need to strengthen the confidence of it residents, patients and their families by getting the accreditation.
“It would have been easy to use the pandemic as a reason not to go for accreditation,” he added. “But instead we focused on what it would do for us and why we should do it: it helps us stand apart from the rest, it will stimulate improvement efforts and more.”
The accreditation is awarded upon successful completion of an on-site survey, conducted by a specially trained Joint Commission surveyor, and includes rigorous reviews by the evaluators.
“Given all our industry has been through in the last year, it is more important than ever to build trust and provide an objective standard to reassure folks about our model of care and commitment to excellence,” MacDonald added.
Currently, fewer than 20% of skilled nursing communities in Tennessee have reportedly earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval.
Companies featured in this article:
American Health Care Association, American Health Partners, National Center for Assisted Living, Plante Moran, The Joint Commission
