Post-acute care, which nationally has trended less than 25% of patient days of care but been the lifeblood of financial viability, has been hit hard — first, by a sharp decline in elective surgeries and overall declines in utilization across many types of care, and second, a strong preference for home-based rehabilitation.
Will this shift to home last? The answer largely depends on whether lawmakers strengthen the home health benefit, which has shrunk over the course of the last decade. But the pandemic could represent an inflection point, given the imperative to reduce infection rates.
