The 1979 General Assembly passed House Joint Resolution #234 which directed the State Health Department. to study the "Swing Bed" concept. This concept postulates that if a need exists for long-term care beds this need can be partially met by utilizing a certain number of existing unoccupied beds in hospitals. These beds would be considered to be swing beds in that they could be utilized for either acute or long-term care. The study was broadened to address the swing bed concept in nursing homes because of the impact that swing beds could have on all long-term care facilities. The "swing" in nursing homes would involve skilled and intermediate levels of care.

It should be recognized that prior to 1965 and the passage of federal Medicaid and Medicare legislation, nothing remarkable was seen in the intermix of acute and long-term care patients in the hospital setting. In 1965, and again in 1976, amendments to the Social Security Act restricted the ability of hospitals to provide long-term care. Requirements were imposed that acute care facilities, i.e., hospitals, could not, or chose not to, meet.

The "Swing Bed" concept is a part of the broader medical care continuum known· as "progressive patient care." This envisions that an individual should be able to move in stages [up or down] from a high level of intensive care through decreasing intensities of care until the appropriate level of care is provided or vice versa as required.