Impact of Insurance Precertification on Discharge of Stroke Patients to Acute Rehabilitation or Skilled Nursing Facility

Background and purpose The purpose of this study is to determine if the common insurance practice of requiring precertification before a medically ready stroke patient can be discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) or inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) causes a delay in discharge. Eliminating delays in discharge of stroke patients is important given the increasing demands for health-care efficiency after the passage of the Affordable Health Care Act. Methods A retrospective chart review of 1007 patients who were admitted to our comprehensive stroke center with the primary diagnosis of stroke over a 12-month period was performed. Out of the patient pool, 289 patients met the inclusion criterion of a primary diagnosis of stroke that required discharge to a SNF or IRF. All 289 patients were medically cleared for discharge to a SNF or IRF by a board-certified vascular neurologist. Results Of the 289 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 118 required insurance precertification and 171 did not require precertification before being discharged to a SNF or IRF. All 118 patients who required precertification had private health insurance. The patients who required insurance precertification had an average delay of discharge (DOD) of 1.5 days, and those patients who did not require precertification had an average DOD of.8 days (P value <.0001). After removing the outliers, the difference in the length of stay (LOS) between the 2 groups became statistically significant (P value < .04). Conclusion The results of this study demonstrate that insurance precertification leads to delay in discharge, increased LOS, and increased hospital costs for stroke patients.