Long-Stay Nursing Home Residents' Hospitalizations in the VHA: The Potential Impact of Aligning Financial Incentives on Hospitalizations

VHA nursing homes do not have the financial incentives that impact the decision to hospitalize that exist in the non-VHA sector. This unique feature of the VHA's nursing homes would allow one to study the issue of potentially preventable hospitalizations in long-stay residents without the confounding impact of Medicare and Medicaid payment incentives. Because of the importance of this policy issue in the national long-term care debate, further VHA studies may provide important empirically based policy input.