Introduction
The reduction of hospitalization in nursing homes is an important goal to be achieved by the government. The government has helped nursing homes develop treatment centre’s which treat patients and calculate the costs of medicine and consolidation rather than admitting them. In this case hospitalization is avoided. The treatments in some centres which do not have hospitalization facilities are carried out without transferring the patients to the main hospitalizing nursing homes. This has improved the quality of services offered by nursing homes with hospitalization facilities.
Reducing Hospitalization Policy
Hospitalization was viewed as a costly expense therefore hospitalization instances will reduce the cost of managing medical institutions as well as the cost associated with treating one patient. The policy was designed in a manner that people near nursing homes will be given care while they are outpatient. This has improved the quality of nursing homes and there is much improvement. The use of Medicaid has helped reduce these services because Medicaid which has helped nursing homes has enough resources and clinical staff. The government has come up with this policy of avoiding hospitalization as a measure of performance. A nursing home which reduces hospitalization cases at the same time helping the patients recover fully will be assumed to have performed well as compared to those with high hospitalization cases.
According to statistics available hospitalization cases had gone high increasing from 608 million in 1999 to 970 million in 2004. If this costs are allowed to continue rising medical care may be beyond reach of many and nursing homes will be unable to finance their operations thus increasing the burden on the government. If there is avoidance of hospitalization the cost is not likely to increase to this level.
Patients are encouraged to take outpatient services by the nursing homes through assisting tem calculate the costs of getting out service and in service. Since the payments catered by Medicaid is lower than the hospitalization rates then residents finds it necessary to take outpatient services. This means they are less financial incentives on part of the patients to take hospitalization services therefore even nursing homes have incentives to encourage patients take outpatient services. The government has also come up with a policy where hospitals are financed through pay for performance policy this has assisted Nursing Homes to be active in trying to manage their services. This system assists the Nursing Homes to get financing through avoiding hospitalization since they have good medical care savings. These payments are changing the behavior of Nursing Homes In admitting patients.
Another measure that is considered in managing hospitalization cases in hospitals is the certification of Nursing homes. Stringent regulations have been provided for nursing homes that will only allow certain chronic cases to be admitted in hospitals. However, all this is not a solution because assist were nursing homes may swift the costs to private payments and medical residences.
Conclusion
This policy that has been implemented is seen as the best alternative of lowering unnecessary nursing home hospitalization cases however its not foolproof because some nursing homes may transfer the costs to private payments and Medicare. It may also see escalating costs thus making medical services extremely very high and unreachable to some people. Proper cost benefit analysis should be carried out by medical institutions to determine the costs savings that will be made from each place before deciding how it should be treated.
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