For Older Adults, Unexpected Hazards in Several Provisions of the Affordable Care Act

Newswise — One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to reduce the fragmentation of services for patients. The problems of fragmentation are magnified for the six million Americans receiving long-term services. New analysis, led by Mary D. Naylor, PhD, RN, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, examines the impact on this population of three provisions of the ACA—the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, the National Pilot Program on Payment Bundling, and the Community-Based Care Transitions Program.

While each of these provisions is intended to enhance transitional care and prevent avoidable poor outcomes among the Medicare population, the researchers reported in the prestigious policy journal Health Affairs that they found them lacking and having the potential to produce unintended consequences that contribute to avoidable poor outcomes.

• Hospital Readmission Reduction Program. The program was designed to provide incentives for improvements in outcomes. However, because some frail older adults suffer from multiple conditions, and therefore have a higher possibility of being readmitted, hospitals could respond by limiting access to this population. Alternatively, the authors say that hospitals could also respond by redesigning care processes that benefit all patients.

• National Pilot Program on Payment Bundling. Bundled payments are designed to motivate providers to deliver care in the lowest-cost setting while avoiding expensive post-acute stays. However, the pilot program excludes long-term services and support as part of the “bundle,” so the authors point out that providers may simply withhold services to this group past the bundled payment period to realize savings.

• Community-Based Care Transitions. At the moment, thirty sites are participating in a program linking community-based organizations with hospitals to improve outcomes and reduce rehospitalizations. However, the authors point out, many frail older adults might not have been hospitalized or may not live in geographic regions served by these organizations.

“Because the Affordable Care Act may introduce unintended consequences for older adults receiving long-term services and supports, we suggest additional policies that may address these potential emerging risks,” concludes Dr. Naylor, who is the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology and director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health at Penn Nursing. “Without retooling the payment and delivery systems, reform could fall short of its transformational promise.”

Funding for this research is from grant to the Long-Term Quality Alliance by The Commonwealth Fund. Dr. Naylor chairs the LTQA’s Board of Trustees.

Mary Naylor examines the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the 6 million Americans receiving long-term services through the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, the National Pilot Program on Payment Bundling, and the Community-Based Transitions Program.