Defining and Measuring Delays in Postacute Care

Patients typically access facility-based PAC (IRF and SNF) within 2 days, whereas initiation of home-based PAC (HHA) occurs around 12 days. These findings on the joinpoint provide empirical evidence to define PAC delay for each setting. However, it also indicates a systemic gap in defining timely postacute transitions, underscoring the need for standardizing the lengths of accessing postacute services with empirical evidence.