Reducing Transfers among Long-Stay Nursing Facility Residents to Acute Care Settings: Effect of the 2013‒2016 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Initiative.

Objectives: From 2013 to 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents ("the Initiative") tested a series of clinical interventions and care models, through organizations called Enhanced Care and Coordination Providers (ECCPs), with the goal of reducing avoidable inpatient hospital admissions among long-stay nursing home residents. We identify the effect of the Initiative on the probability and count of acute care transfers [capturing any transfer to the hospital, including hospitalizations (inpatient stays), emergency department visits, and observation stays].

Design: We evaluate the effect of the Initiative on the probability and count of all-cause acute care transfers and potentially avoidable acute care transfers and estimate the average effect of the Initiative per resident per year.