High Use Of Expensive Therapy In Orange County Nursing Homes Raises Concerns
At 16 of Orange County’s more than 60 nursing homes, over 80 percent of Medicare patients received therapy at the highest rate allowed in 2014, according to an analysis, and therapists are saying that level of treatment is not necessary.
The Orange County Register:
Big Money In Nursing Home Therapy, But Is All The Treatment Necessary?
Nursing homes in California – and notably in Orange County – are outpacing the nation in embracing the most expensive form of therapy for their patients on Medicare, triggering an outcry from some therapists who say the treatment frequently is unnecessary. Fully 72 percent of Medicare rehabilitation patients in Orange County nursing homes in 2014 received treatment at the highest rate allowed. That compares with 66 percent statewide and 58 percent nationwide, the California Health Care Foundation Center for Health Reporting found in an analysis of Medicare data for the Orange County Register. (Schoch and Campbell, 2/28)