Among the elderly population that is hospitalized, about 20 percent are discharged to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), at a cost of over $30 billion annually. SNFs provide high-level care in an outpatient setting with the intent of reducing individuals’ time in the hospital and preventing readmissions. I leverage a Medicare policy that induces a discontinuity in the probability of being transferred to a SNF to estimate the effectiveness of SNF care. I find that SNF care reduces the probability of readmission to the hospital within 30 days by 33 percent, suggesting that SNF care substantially improves patient outcomes.

中文翻译：

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熟练护理设施护理的效果：Medicare回归不连续性证据

在住院的老年人口中，约有20％出院到熟练的护理机构（SNF），每年的费用超过300亿美元。SNF在门诊病人环境中提供高级护理，目的是减少个人在医院的时间并防止再次入院。我利用一项医疗保险政策，该政策会导致转移到SNF的可能性不连续，以评估SNF护理的有效性。我发现SNF护理可将30天内再次入院的可能性降低33％，这表明SNF护理可大大改善患者的预后。