Observation encounters and subsequent nursing facility stays.

Medicare coverage of skilled nursing facility (SNF) care requires that beneficiaries have a 3-night inpatient stay in the prior 30 days to be eligible. Time spent by beneficiaries receiving hospital-based observation services does not count toward this requirement.To examine the frequency of Medicare beneficiary discharge from hospital-based observation services to SNFs and its impact on Medicare coverage.Retrospective cohort study.In 2010,...