When patients are discharged from the hospital, many end up in a skilled nursing facility or LTACH. This type of care is a good option for patients who need support and medical care but do not need intensive care. It is also a great option for patients with multiple comorbidities requiring a team of skilled nursing professionals to handle their medical care and support needs.
Long-term acute care hospitals, or LTACHs, provide care to patients with various medical conditions. While these patients may not require emergency treatment or intensive care, they require highly complex and sophisticated care that is difficult to provide at home. LTACHs provide this continuity of care by operating separately from the host hospital. LTACHs specialize in complex medical and pulmonary care. They also offer advanced in-patient wound care units. Because of their specialty care, LTACHs are equipped to treat various chronic conditions and patient populations, making them unique among long-term care hospitals. They also provide advanced rehabilitative services, including the weaning of ventilators. LTACHs are also unique in their staffing, which differs from the more traditional SNFs. LTACHs typically employ a full staff of physicians who provide 24-hour oversight. They also have a dedicated team of respiratory therapists. This specialized staff ensures that critical pulmonary issues are managed and that tracheostomies are properly monitored. Their expertise in this field is essential for helping patients stay in a comfortable environment and avoid expensive readmissions. Long-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) provide specialized care to critically ill and medically complex patients. These facilities are often free-standing or operate within a larger hospital. In recent years, the number of HWH-type LTACHs has increased substantially. Recently, CMS proposed a rule change that would allow them to receive up to 25% of their Medicare patients from a partner acute hospital. LTACHs focus on specialized treatment programs and intensive care for patients with complex medical needs. Many patients in these institutions receive treatment after being discharged from a short-term hospital intensive care unit. LTACHs provide 24 hours-a-day care for patients with complex medical conditions. The quality of care in IRFs differs from that of SNFs. Typically, patients at an IRF receive three hours of intensive therapy five days a week, while those in an SNF receive up to 90 minutes of treatment daily. In addition, a medical professional supervises patients at an IRF three times a week rather than daily. Both types of facilities focus on specialized treatment for patients with complex medical conditions, but the therapy offered in SNFs is not as intensive as in an IRF. While the current IRF policy is a great step in the right direction, this model still faces many challenges. For starters, a unified payment system would incentivize providers to shift more patients from SNFs to IRFs and home health to reduce costs. Furthermore, it would encourage patients to transfer to IRFs if they meet certain criteria. Acute-care providers need to have strong relationships with trusted SNFs. Developing these relationships isn't about sheer numbers anymore but about demonstrating quality and safety. In recent years, many hospital networks have focused on creating networks with reliable SNFs. Hospitals are also increasingly asking SNFs to share their risk. CMS has created a system that makes it easy to compare quality metrics among SNFs. Care Compare is a website that organizes reported data and helps families compare quality across over 15,000 SNFs. This system provides a snapshot of each SNF's quality and safety measures. The number of Americans in SNFs for long-term care has declined steadily over the past decade. At the same time, the number of patients receiving short-term nursing care has increased dramatically. In 2014, nearly one million Medicare beneficiaries received short-term care in 15,000 SNFs, costing an estimated $28.6 billion. Approximately 20 percent of FFS Medicare beneficiaries stay in SNFs. Roughly 95 percent of SNFs offer both kinds of care. Acute, long-term care is medical care provided in a hospital and is covered by Medicare. This type of treatment is often required after a serious injury or illness. It may include in-patient hospital care, rehabilitation, or post-acute care. Medicare covers most of these costs. Medicare also assists with certain services, including home health care. Medicare covers some of the cost of long-term care, but it does not cover all the expenses. For example, some types of long-term care are considered custodial and do not count toward the total amount of Medicare payments. Such services include help with basic daily activities such as bathing and dressing, using the toilet, and moving from bed to chair. However, Medicare will not cover custodial care, even if the government covers it.
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AuthorWellman Shew Archives
February 2024
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