Post-Acute Care: What Does it Have to Do with Me?

Major policies in payment and regulation over the past several years have focused on improving health care in all departments and reducing avoidable emergency department (ED) visits and readmission. These new pressures on delivery of health care require collaboration among staff of emergency, hospital medicine, and postacute care departments, not just transfer of patients to each other. This article will describe policy and regulatory pressures on emergency departments, hospitals, and postacute settings, identify common areas of interdependence, and make recommendations for successful collaboration.