One of the Northeast’s largest post-acute care providers has doubled its commitment to placing a physician within a skilled nursing facility daily to enhance outcomes.
Centers Health Care said that a successful run of the model at its Boro Park Center in Brooklyn, New York, led to care and discharge results better than state and national averages for more than 1,000 patients.
A physician from NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation is now present for several hours per day at Amsterdam Nursing Home in Manhattan, while therapists ply their trade there seven days a week.
The Boro outcomes, which were gauged over a five-year period, underscore the program’s effectiveness in improving mobility, independence and overall quality of life while also decreasing hospital readmissions, program leaders said. The Amsterdam location officially started the program earlier this fall, officials said in announcing the program expansion Tuesday.
“Daily collaboration between the nursing staff, therapists and our onsite physician has had a tremendous impact and led to improved communication and faster response times to changes in residents’ conditions,” Amsterdam administrator Moshe Blackstein told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. “We’ve seen tangible improvements in functional recovery rates and a reduction in hospital readmissions. Residents and families also feel reassured having direct access to a rehabilitation physician who understands both hospital-level care and long-term recovery needs.”
Blackstein said facility staff also benefit from having the physician on-site since it lessens treatment uncertainty that can accompany especially complex cases.
“Our onsite partnership gives nurses and therapists immediate access to clinical guidance, whether that’s fine-tuning medication management, setting realistic therapy goals or addressing new symptoms,” Blackstein said. “It strengthens both confidence and clinical decision-making at every level.”
Broad implications
Centers Health operates 42 skilled nursing and rehabilitation facilities in the state of New York and southern New Jersey, caring for one million patients per year.
“We expect that our partnership [with Rusk] will deliver sustained clinical improvements, like better functional outcomes, reduced transfers back to the hospital, and a higher overall quality of life for residents,” Blackstein explained.
“But just as important, it reshapes what residents can expect from skilled nursing care: a proactive, team-based approach grounded in rehabilitation excellence. We see this as a model for how health systems and skilled nursing facilities can work together to deliver truly integrated care.”
Having a Rusk physician onsite has “transformed” the rehab experience, said Boro Park Center administrator NachmanFeig.
“We’ve seen firsthand how this level of specialized, hands-on care can accelerate recovery and restore confidence,” he noted.
The program is embedded directly into a patient’s broad caregiving plan. It features an interdisciplinary team that offers physical, occupational and speech therapies, as well as specialized programs for neurological, psychiatric, orthopedic and cardiopulmonary conditions.
“Since joining Amsterdam Nursing Center, I’ve been able to work with residents from the moment they arrive and support them through every stage of recovery,” observed Matthew Glenn, MD MS, a clinical instructor in physician medicine and rehab at Rusk. “I make sure they understand their treatment plans, feel supported, and have the tools to address preventative care so they can keep their progress going long after they leave the program.”
Continuity of care improves, program because there is no need for outside appointments and rehab care coordination is “seamless,” officials said.