Hospital Variation in Skilled Nursing Facility Use After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Over 20% of patients are discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) after coronary artery bypass graft surgery, but little is known about specific drivers for postdischarge SNF use. The purpose of this study was to evaluate hospital variation in SNF use and its association with postoperative outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft.

A retrospective study design utilizing Medicare Provider Analysis and Review files was used to evaluate SNF use among 70 509 beneficiaries undergoing coronary artery bypass graft, with or without valve procedures, between 2016 and 2018. A total of 17 328 (24.6%) were discharged to a SNF, ranging from 0% to 88% across 871 hospitals. Multilevel logistic regression models identified significant patient-level predictors of discharge to SNF including increasing age, comorbidities, female sex, Black race, dual eligibility, and postoperative complications. After adjusting for patient and hospital factors, 15.6% of the variation in hospital SNF use was attributed to the discharging hospital. Compared with the lower quartile of hospital SNF use, hospitals in the top quartile of SNF use had lower risk-adjusted 1-year mortality (12.5% versus 8.6%, P<0.001) and readmission (59.9% versus 49.8%, P<0.001) rates for patients discharged to a SNF.

There is high variability in SNF use among hospitals that is only partially explained by patient characteristics. Hospitals with higher SNF utilization had lower risk-adjusted 1-year mortality and readmission rates for patients discharged to a SNF. More work is needed to better understand underlying provider and hospital-level factors contributing to SNF use variability.