State of the Nursing Home Sector: MA Admissions Up 21.2%, While Traditional Medicare Drops 13.8% 

The national Medicare Advantage beneficiary admissions to nursing homes increased by 21.2% in 2021, and Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) admissions in the sector decreased by 13.8% between 2022 and 2023. Trella Health captured this data in its post-acute care industry trend report for 2024, confirming what the industry has been saying about the rise of MA […]

Quarterly Trella Report Finds Medicare FFS Admissions to Nursing Homes Declined by 19.9%

Medicare Fee-for-Service, or traditional Medicare, admissions to nursing homes decreased significantly year over year by almost 20% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Coupled with this drop is a steady rise in Medicare Advantage enrollment, with such plans representing 54.7% of all beneficiaries enrolled in both Medicare Part A and B as of February, Trella […]

SNF Fee-for-Service Admissions Increase But Occupancy Still Hurt by Pandemic

Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) admissions increased among skilled nursing facilities by 5.8% in 2022, while other care settings saw a decrease in this metric, and as SNF utilization rates increased nationwide.  However, quarterly skilled nursing admissions still decreased faster than FFS enrollment. That’s comparing 2019 and 2022 directly, according to Trella Health’s annual industry trend report […]

OIG: CMS Needs to Keep Closer Eye on MA Plans Denying Requests for SNF Care

The Department of Health and Human Services’ top watchdog arm has raised concerns over some Medicare Advantage plans that have denied certain services requested by patients, including those trying to get skilled nursing care. MA plans issue millions of denials each year and the HHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found widespread and persistent […]

Uptick in Elective Surgeries May Not Boost SNF Occupancy

A noted rise in elective surgeries for seniors, perhaps to pre-Covid levels, may not translate into a bump in skilled nursing occupancy. Roughly 44% of physicians estimate that there will be more elective surgeries in Q2 compared to Q1 – but 60% of those surveyed said they expected skilled nursing discharges to be similar to […]

Skilled Nursing Admissions Shrink as Home Health Stabilizes

Skilled nursing admissions continue to stumble toward recovery “with no clear end in sight” as others along the care continuum – like home health – are starting to steady. That’s according to the 2021 post-acute industry trends report from Atlanta-based health analytics company Trella Health. The report spans topics including admissions and utilization data in […]

Reputation & Referral: A Discussion with Trella Health

This article is brought to you by Trella Health. The article is based on an interview that took place during a virtual panel discussion with Jonas Fortenberry, Revenue Enablement Manager for Trella Health. The panel took place virtually on January 27, 2022. This is an excerpt from the session, which has been edited for length […]

Trella Inks Deal With CRM, EMR Company PlayMaker

Trella Health on Tuesday announced its acquisition of PlayMaker Health, a provider of market intelligence tools operating in the post-acute care space. The Atlanta-based health analytics company plans to mix its “robust” market intelligence with PlayMaker’s mobile customer relationship management (CRM) product, the company said in a statement. The dollar amount for the deal was […]

Pandemic Expenses Could Drive Some SNF Operators Out of the Market

With more than half of nursing homes currently operating at a loss, only a quarter are confident that they can last a year or more. That’s according to a survey of 616 skilled nursing facilities conducted by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL). The organization posted its findings on […]

Skilled Nursing Referrals Drop While Other Post Acute Settings Rise

Hospitals and other acute care facilities aren’t referring post-acute care to skilled nursing facilities as much as they have in the past four years, with a significant decline between 2019 and 2020, according to a report released by Trella Health. Data gathered by the Atlanta-based health analytics company shows a drop from 21.5% in facility […]

Some ACOs See Value in Closer Skilled Nursing Partnerships Post-Pandemic

The rise of value-based care has put a greater focus on costs and quality of all health care providers. While accountable care organizations (ACOs) have gotten a bad rap in the skilled nursing industry in the past, joining forces with these groups, which consist of groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers, remains […]

Skilled Nursing Admissions Drop Across the Country as Home Health Discharges Pull Ahead

In another sign of the shifting paradigm in post-acute care, home health agencies beat out the skilled nursing setting as the most likely post-acute referral destination — while SNF admissions dropped in all 50 states from last year. That’s according to the 2019 Industry Trend Report from Trella Health, which analyzes Medicare Part A and […]