This story originally broke via Modern Healthcare.
Thousands of physical, occupational and speech therapists have been laid off as skilled-nursing facilities transition to a new payment model that kicked in Tuesday.
Dozens of these therapists have emailed Modern Healthcare saying they have been laid off or had their wages cut as a result of the new patient-driven payment model, which is akin to bundled payments and based on patient assessments and acuity rather than the volume of therapy services. Industry observers expect more fallout as certain providers gamed the system to maximize therapy hours, which are now likely going to be a fraction of what they were under the resource-utilization group model.
It is worth noting that throughout the Fall 2018 conference season, industry leaders en masse warned against large swings of utilization, workforce adjustments, and clinical practice patterns as payer entities were likely to monitor and audit as a measure of both hints of past mismatches as well as projections to future needs within the consumer marketplace. Sadly, despite industry reports such as the 2019 Talent Acquisition Report and 2019 State of Rehab Therapy Marketing Report noting that most companies are aiming to adhere to the advice of industry experts, there are some organizations prematurity pulling the proverbial trigger for their human resource and operational strategies.
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