We know that social determinants of health (SDOH) can cause unnecessary hospital admissions on the acute care side. And that’s pushed many acute care health systems to purchase or launch primary care practices.

But what about hospital readmissions caused by inadequate, inappropriate, or negligent long-term care? Don’t they undermine value-based care (VBC) as much as lack of quality primary care?

The next big frontier in improving the nation’s population health strategy may thus be a series of mergers and acquisitions between hospital systems and long-term care providers, suggested McKnight’s Long-Term Care News reporter Marty Stempniak.

Some hospital systems are already making such moves, he noted.

Toledo-based ProMedica, for example, just announced that it’s working to acquire skilled nursing provider HCR ManorCare, as part of its strategy to improve population health and reduce pressure on its emergency rooms.

Read Stempniak’s full op-ed here, in McKnight’s.