How Covid-19 will—and won’t—change post-acute care

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will reverberate throughout the healthcare industry for years to come. With the crisis spotlighting the deeply entrenched challenges in post-acute care, there is legitimate reason to expect major change in the care delivery system as a result of the pandemic.

However, based on existing trends, it is unlikely that massive transformation will occur. The indicators of change like increased public attention on the challenges in post-acute and senior care, expanded use of telehealth, experimentation of new home-based care models, and calls for raising post-acute reimbursement have been occurring for years now.

The more plausible outcome is that the pandemic will actually accelerate the pre-existing trends and exacerbate existing challenges facing the post-acute and senior care industry.