Trella Health Announces Publication of 2020 Industry Trend Report

February 11, 2021 

Trella Health, the leading source of post-acute outcomes data and provider performance analytics, recently published their 2020 Industry Trend Report. The report, which is published annually, provides data-driven insights into the post-acute industry based on Trella’s analysis of Medicare claims through Q2 2020. This year’s report builds on the trends from 2019; for many metrics, Trella compared Q1 and Q2 2019 to Q1 and Q2 2020.  

In addition to highlighting market trends around post-acute care discharge instructions, admissions, and utilization, the 2020 publication explores the initial impact of COVID-19.  Some of the key takeaways included:  

• Medicare Advantage (MA) penetration continued to grow, eclipsing 40% of all Medicare beneficiaries in Q4 2020. Conversely, Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) enrollment decreased in 2020, from 37.1M to 36.9M beneficiaries. 
• Home health admissions have sharply declined since 2018. Admissions decreased 5.2% year-over-year in Q1 2020, which could be due to fewer overall FFS beneficiaries, a lower rate of home health referrals, and a reduced number of elective surgeries at the beginning of the pandemic. 
• Skilled nursing facilities experienced the most significant impact from COVID-19, with a national year-over-year admission decline of 21.4%.  
• At 48.9%, nearly half of all inpatient stays for the Q2 2020 reporting period did not include post-acute care (PAC) instructions upon discharge, a slight increase from the 47.8% of episodes not referred to PAC during the Q1 2019 reporting period.  
• COVID-19 had the third-highest two-year inpatient mortality rate, at 9.8%, exceeded only by neoplasms and sepsis. 
• Telehealth claims rose, as was anticipated, but far outpaced expectations by skyrocketing 3334% year-over-year in April. 

“The state of post-acute care – and healthcare in general – is likely to be changed forever in the wake of COVID-19. While the full depth of the pandemic’s impact is still unknown, we’re committed to investigating and will continue reporting the latest insights as new data becomes available,” stated Ian Juliano, Trella’s CEO. 

Find Trella’s 2020 Industry Trend Report here: https://www.trellahealth.com/2020-industry-trend-report-post-acute-insights-medicare-data-analytics/  

If you have specific questions for Trella regarding the report, please reach out to marketing@trellahealth.com. 

Read the full press release here.  

About Trella Health 

Trella Health is the leading provider of actionable insights for healthcare networks, ACOs, and the post-acute care market. We believe that to achieve smarter growth in today’s value-based care economy, who you choose to work with is everything—whether it’s your referral sources or your network partners. As one of only a few companies in the country deemed an Innovator under the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Virtual Research Data Center Program, Trella has access to 100% of Medicare Part A and Part B claims and Medicare Advantage data. We analyze and standardize billions of data points from across the continuum of care, and provide the insights our customers need to identify, engage, and manage the best partnerships for their business.