The emergency care model: A new paradigm for skilled nursing facilities

The population of individuals age 65 and older is increasing in the United States. One third of these individuals will utilize nursing home care before death. Nursing home residents (NHR) average 1.8 emergency department visits annually. Improving the quality of nursing home care is of vital importance. This project describes a new paradigm for the management of acute emergent health issues affecting NHR. The model features a multidisciplinary team coordinated by emergency providers resulting in a 55% reduction in unplanned hospital admissions compared to skilled nursing facility regional data. Additionally, a reduction in ancillary lab costs was observed. Implementation of this paradigm on a national scale could result in a projected cost savings in excess of $10 billion per year for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). (C) 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc.