Health systems and hospitals are reassessing strategic options for providing post-acute, value-based care, and it is becoming clear that a relationship with skilled nursing homes is critical, according to a recent report by management consulting company Kaufman Hall and Associates.
“A high-performing skilled nursing facility is a critical ally for health systems, particularly those that are focused on performance in value-based care arrangements or looking to enable earlier discharge from inpatient care to the lower-cost SNF setting and help to reduce hospital readmissions,” the management consulting firm said.
Options for growing the relationship could include hospitals selling or monetizing their current SNF assets, partnering with specialized SNF operators or focusing on increased investment in next-generation SNFs (sometimes called “super SNFs”) that can accommodate higher acuity patients in a more comfortable and appropriate care environment, the experts said.
There were 13 announced transactions between hospitals and health systems in the second quarter of 2022. Although still below pre-pandemic levels, “we again saw the small number of transactions offset by a high percentage of ‘mega’ transactions, in which the smaller party or seller has annual revenues in excess of $1 billion,” Kaufman Hall and Associates said.
Total transacted revenue reached a historic high of $19.2 billion in the second quarter, which doubles the total transacted revenue of $8.5 billion in the same time period a year ago, according to the report.
The consulting firm said that those deals led to several new partnerships between health systems and SNFs centered on offering consumers access to new services or services that require specialized skill sets.
