For a patient’s continued recovery and optimal outcome, does the choice of post-acute care (PAC) setting matter? Two sets of researchers investigated this question. One set investigated the

In Chapter 3, you read about four post-acute care (PCA) settings: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) Long term care hospitals (LTCHs) Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) Home Health Agencies (HHAs) As patients continue their recovery, post-acute care in any one of these settings safely transitions them out of the acute-care hospital. Patients in these settings have similar conditions, such as strokes and hip replacements. However, Medicare pays different prices depending upon the setting. Which begs the question: For a patient’s continued recovery and optimal outcome, does the choice of post-acute care (PAC) setting matter? Two sets of researchers investigated this question. One set investigated the functional recovery for patients who had had a stroke. Another set investigated the functional recovery for patients who had had a hip fracture repaired. Let’s take a look at what they found! Chan and colleagues performed a long-term study on 222 patients who had had a stroke. The patients had received care from four different acute care hospitals in one integrated delivery system (IDS). The patients also received their post-acute care from settings in the IDS. The IDS offered three types of post-acute care (PAC) settings: Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), and Home Health