Effects of Medicare Medical Reviews on Ambiguous Short-Stay Hospital Admissions.

Objective: To examine the effects of Medicare's Medical Review (MR) program on short-stay inpatient hospitalization.

Data Sources/study Setting: One Hundred percent of Medicare Part A and Part B claims and the Master Beneficiary Summary File (2007-2010).

Study Design: Retrospective observational study using a difference-in-differences approach.

Increasing Prevalence of Assisted Living as a Substitute for Private-Pay Long-Term Nursing Care.

Objective: Given the tremendous growth in assisted living (AL) over the past 20 years, it is important to understand how expansion has affected the demand for long-term care (LTC) provided in nursing homes (NHs). We estimated the effect of a change in county-level AL beds on the prevalence of private-pay residents and private-pay resident days at the NH-level.

Data Sources: National census of large AL providers (25+ beds), and Minimum Data Set combined with Medicare enrollment records and claims from 2007 and 2014.

Re-thinking the 'Two-Midnight' Rule: The Challenge of Regulating Hospital Admission.

Hospital observation services are meant to care for hospitalized patients with less severe conditions and the expectation of a short length of stay. In recent years, use of these services has increased and been highly variable; but it is often unclear whether they're appropriate for a particular patient. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) most recent attempt to address this was a policy known as the "Two Midnight" Rule which states that observation care should be provided to patients expected to be in the hospital for fewer than two midnights.