Pandemic-induced waived restrictions on Medicare admissions to CHC ContinueCARE’s Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals (LTACHs) have proved to be a highly effective tool in improving patient outcomes, relieving strained resources on local healthcare systems, and providing a healthier environment for their communities overall.

Since the government lifted restrictions removing payment barriers to LTACHs and provided more funding for patient care last year, LTACHs have served as a relief valve to handle patient overflow from traditional Short Term Acute Care Hospitals. In many communities, LTACHs admitted patients from hospitals overwhelmed from the surge of COVID-19 patients requiring extensive hospitalization of several weeks or more.

The waived rules are part of legislation known as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which helped expand patient access as a means of increasing hospital capacity by waiving prior restrictions on admission requirements.

Read the full article in Hospital & Healthcare Management, April 1, 2021.