Skilled Nursing Facility Organizational Characteristics Are More Strongly Associated With Multiparticipant Therapy Provision Than Patient Characteristics.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study of associations before PDPM, so it cannot show that patient or facility characteristics caused multiparticipant therapy. Group and concurrent therapy were combined because multiparticipant therapy rates were very low, so the analysis cannot compare characteristics associated with different amounts or types of multiparticipant therapy. The study did not measure patient outcomes, so it cannot show whether multiparticipant therapy was helpful or harmful. It included only Medicare Part A beneficiaries meeting the study criteria, excluding private and Medicare Advantage insurance and some small facilities. Very high multiparticipant therapy was rare, so subgroup findings depend on a small number of patients and facilities.

Funded by University of Washington and HPA. The funders played no role in design, conduct, or reporting.

Do not read these results as evidence that group or concurrent therapy is clinically appropriate or improves patient outcomes. The study only describes factors associated with receiving multiparticipant therapy before PDPM and did not measure patient outcomes.