CMS Analysis Provides Insight into Skilled Nursing Facility Three-Day Waiver Use in ACOs

A new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) analysis describes trends in use and outcomes associated with waiving the three-day (two nights) stay requirement at an acute care hospital before discharge to a skilled nursing facility (SNF). The three-day waiver for certain accountable care organizations (ACOs) allows providers to admit patients to certain SNFs directly from the community or after only one to two days in a hospital. The analysis finds shorter SNF lengths of stay and higher rates of discharge-to-home for waiver stays as well as lower or similar rates of adverse outcomes relative to non-waiver stays.