Skilled Nursing Facility Providers Have Responded to Medicare Payment System By Changing Practices (GAO-02-841)
September 2002 Skilled Nursing Facility Providers Have Responded to Medicare Payment System By Changing Practices (GAO-02-841) In 1998, the Health Care Financing Administration implemented a prospective payment system (PPS) for skilled nursing facility (SNF) services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. PPS is intended to control the growth in Medicare spending for skilled nursing and rehabilitative services that SNFs provide. Two years after the implementation of PPS, the mix of patients across the categories of payment groups has shifted, as determined by the patients' initial minimum data set assessments. Although the overall share of patients classified into rehabilitation payment group . . .
