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Just curious because this question comes up often. I also got this question a lot when I was secretary for a Visiting Nurse Assoc. I live in South Jersey. When a person is hospitalized and needs rehab the Hospital handles it. They have a special employee that calls around to see where beds are available and then gives the patient or family members a choice. At no time have I had to call around asking if an opening is available. Homecare I picked which one I preferred, but the hospital called the service and sent them the doctor order. Then Homecare calls me to set up a day to admit my Mom. As a secretary I got lots of calls from family members freaking out because they thought the responsibility would be theirs. I explained that a Social Worker would contact them with how discharge will be handled. As a VNA facility we did nothing until we had a doctors order in hand from the hospital. Isn't this how all hospitals work?

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JoAnn, each time one of my parents were in the hospital and needed to go to Rehab, it was the hospital Social Worker who handled finding that open bed.

I am in a large metro area so the Social Work had to jump at the opening as openings were far and few between. Couple times I was able to stall my parent's release and wait for another bed opening to a place closer to home. I couldn't stall too long as the health insurance would not pay for another day in the hospital.
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My son's hospital arranged for his admission to a rehab facility. His wife did quite a bit of research and worked with the discharge person. Of course they could only get a place that had openings, but among those they got to pick.
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When we first started down the long and twisting journey of parent care, I initially relied on the discharge planner, who was a social worker, to recommend a SNF, as I knew nothing about them. The first SNF wasn't the best choice, we had to work things out, and learned a lot.

From them on I merely asked for a list, then called, made arrangements for a tour and meeting, then told the discharge planner which ones interested me. I'm not sure she appreciated that, but I wasn't going to be limited to her choices, or whatever choices she was advised to use by someone above her in rank.

I have been told a few times that there might not be a bed available, so sometimes it was touch and go, but always a bed opened up so we got in where we wanted from on, except when I made a big mistake and chose a SNF which was "bottom of the barrel" in caliber.

I think who takes the lead on finding a place depends on the experience of the family.
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I live in an area that only has maybe 3 rehabs with LT attached. Because of this, I pretty much know the good ones. So lucky. Now DE is a different thing when Mom was in a hospital there for a head wound. Our local hospital doesn't handle heart or head. TG my daughter has worked several rehabs in DE so she knows the good ones. We were able to get Mom where daughter was working. Yes, she got very good care.
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When I was working in the hospital, it was the discharge planner who handled transfers to rehab.
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This happens at many hospitals. Rehab facility pays the hospital a referral fee, hence why the hospital handles the transfer and details associated with it. Hospital also sends results of its therapy programs with the patient to the Rehab facility along with any medical conditions so that the Rehab has an idea what they would be dealing with.
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To my knowledge there is usually a discharge planner monitoring the patients care & helping with discharge orders. Often if the person has commercial insurance (non Medicaid, Medicare) the rep that works with that insurance company follows the patient thru hospital stay & again, uses the insurance in network facilities for discharge.
Not sure how it works for Medicaid, Medicare but all hospitals still up my knowledge have discharge planners - most are social workers and nurses
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When my Dad was discharged from hospital to rehab this week, we were told to give the social worker our top 3 facility choices. So we ran around looking at places, getting tours and info. There was a clear top choice and we knew when we talked to her two hours after the tour that there was a room. Doing due diligence to identify where we DIDN'T want him was important.
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Even if the hospital/social worker recommends a NH, do your homework and check them out... happened to us with dad, we'd never had to deal with a NH before and was suddenly in the position of him needing rehab before going home, so we trusted the hospital SW's recommendation and it was a DUMP. Seriously dirty and no one even met with us until the day he was discharged (the NH director was 'very sorry for the oversight'). I guess it was a blessing in disguise, however, even though they only kept him a week before deeming him well enough to go home (though the poor man couldn't walk steps so had to live with me for 10 days). After seeing what we saw and how the place was run, we would have discharged him, anyway. With us and at home he then got wonderful care from visiting nurses and OT/PT therapists.

Check them out for yourself... as others have said, the hospital gets a referral fee.
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I believe we had some input as to the place Mom would be going for rehab, but we did not actually make the calls to get her there - the hospital did. I recall being shown a list and being asked what my 1st and 2nd choices were in terms of places to send Mom. Hospital arranged for a bed and I think they arranged transportation to get her there as well. However, I want to be clear that just getting someone to a rehab facility is not the end... it's only the beginning of a journey no one should have to deal with. Your loved one will eventually be discharged from rehab - some people are ready for discharge, but others are not truly ready but get discharged anyway. Mom was discharged prematurely due to her insurance cutting her off and Mom also convinced her therapists that she would be OK in her home with minimal help. I think even after her insurance cut her off, we still self paid for about 10 days (which was a fortune and exhausted a good part of Mom's limited funds). After we brought her home, we discovered how bad she really was. Rehab in a facility is a *carefully-controlled* situation. Granted, it would reveal certain capabilities and deficits the person has, but rehab "success" is a poor indicator of how the person will really do at home. Ask as many questions as you can before bringing your loved one home. And, do your best to describe the person's house to the therapists - particularly fall risks and hazards the person will have at home (which would not be there in rehab).
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altopower

You lucked out. Some aren't fortunate to be able to get into a top choice. They sometimes have to settle for a lower rated facility, which not surprisingly usually has many available beds.
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JoAnn I think you're absolutely right about the freaking out part, and I suspect that a lot of freaking out goes on in private and the families never get as far as asking if help is available.

Then when discharge rolls around, the patient's team says "where is the patient going?" and the family's own plan is all in place so all is well, and the patient's family will never have occasion to realise that this was not in fact their job.
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JoAnn, It is nice things worked out for you. In many places that is not the case.
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Other than visiting the rehab. facility to see and feel it in person, what are some of the questions to ask?
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I think you might have overlooked the point of JoAnn's question, which is "is this [i.e. the professional job she herself was doing] not standard practice; and if not, why not?" Personally I think it is an extremely good question. The provision of care is after all a matter of social policy, and where there are shortfalls in practice it helps if it comes under public discussion.
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Some may not know that some doctors at hospitals also are Nursing Home /Rehab facility doctors as well. Their staff tries to convince patients that the doctor is treating to pick a facility where this doctor ( and/or his NP) visits, whether the facility is good or not. If the family does not go with a facility the doctor is also a part of, once released from hospital treating doctor has no contact with patient, as to not "step on the toes" of the Nursing home/Rehab facility, physician. This is how it is at Cleveland Clinic Hospitals and their affiliated hospitals in NE Ohio. Other areas may be similar.
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OverTheEdge17: "Rehab in a facility is a *carefully-controlled* situation. Granted, it would reveal certain capabilities and deficits the person has, but rehab "success" is a poor indicator of how the person will really do at home. "

Thanks for pointing this out! If my mother ends up in the situation of fall-hospital-rehab, I will be alert to this. My mother lives alone, and I will not move in with her, nor she in with me. I will not even stay with her after a release from rehab.
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Ask the rehab facility from the beginning: How well do you work with my loved one's insurance company? Hate to say it, but the insurance game is half the battle. My loved one's attitude and determination declined after she got back to her own home (she was Johnny-on-the-Spot while the facility's rehab people where right there), but I really do believe that her insurance company cut her off too soon and she was sent home too soon. The "home care" she was provided with in her residence was too short in duration and of minimal quality. Minimal. Even at that, Mom was non compliant with the home care people anyway. At least she cooperated wtih the facility's rehab people when they were right there with her and she lived on site. But when her insurance cut her off at the facility, we quickly found it's a fortune to self pay and no one's giving anything away for free these days... You can ask questions like "How much therapy will my loved one get?" and things like that, but it all gets set by the insurance - no matter what you are being told. sad. Oh yes, people will also tell you that you can get 100 days of rehab, but it's not true. Mom got cut WAY before her 100 days and it's all legal. We tried disputing it & I think maybe got a few more days. Do not count on any particular length of time in rehab. We needed to already be planning on what was going to happen next & I'd advise others to do the same. Do not plan on taking a breath while your loved one is in rehab - they can get discharged at any time with little notice if their insurance cuts them and they are unable to pay the bill themselves.
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Two times when my mother was discharged for rehab, the hospital took so long actually finishing the paperwork that my mother was dumped at the NH after business hours with no one to tell staff what to do. The hospital said she'd be released after lunch, but didn't do it till after 6 pm. The hospital then even tried to say my mother shouldn't get dinner. Ah...and by the time she would have gotten to rehab the dinner there would have been long over. Yes the rehab should have contingency plans but clearly did not. This happened in the two best ones in the area. After that I called ahead to find the room assigned and got permission to set it up with her tv, hung clothing, etc. Between the hospital and the rehab, it was one hot mess. Fortunately the care at both was good except in that breech.
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Not all hospitals are created equal..nor are case managers....nor are patients. My experience has proven with many clients and their families and my own that the more you know (assuming you are the decision maker or helping with the decision) the better position you will be in to make sure the patient has a smooth and effective transition of care. I always recommend meeting the case manager from DAY 1 admission and begin planning discharge against multiple scenarios. Ultimately it is the patient/family's decision to what they should do based on the medical recommendations and the guidance of the case planner. Caution---don't assume it goes smoothly if you just let the process take its course and you are an observer nor should you have any regrets once the process is complete and you wished you had more say in the matter. The patient deserves the best option possible as does the caregiver.
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My experiece has been that the discharge planner makes all the arrangements and arranges transport. I was asked my preference of facilities and the one i choose had a bed. It was the one with the best reputation in the area and the other three i had experience with and would never have darkened their doors
As far as discharge from rehab is concerned medicare's standard time allowance is 20 days although under special circumstances the therapy can be extended but the family has to pay room and board.
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My Mom just left rehab last Saturday and it was a rehab facility that we chose and fought Mom's insurance company to get there. The hospital case manager gave us a list of SNFs to pick from as they thought Mom could only handle the type of "rehab" that she would get at a NH. We checked some of them out and I would not send my dog to some of them on the list we were provided! Mom went to an "acute" rehab facility where they require 3 hours of rehab each day and 15 hours per week. Her insurance only approved a 14-day stay but she made good use of all 14 days.

Our impression was that it was up to us to find a place and we had 48 hours to do it. We dealt directly with the rehab facility and the case manager there coordinated with the hospital case manager but, in reality, we had to find the facility with no guidance or information about the places on the list from the case manager. It was very stressful!
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A patient is never sent home after a hospital stay if they live by themselves and because they have been in the hospital, they are sent to a rehab facility once a Medicare bed is located. This is all handled by the hospital.
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llamalover, Not so. I have had patients discharged home who live alone. They do NOT all go to a rehab facility.
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All I can say is Do your research ...my mom's hospital did not even include a nearby NATIONALLY Recognised rehab hospital when she had a stroke ...they were trying to steer us to their own in house program ..I couldn't get over that it wasn't even listed ..yet some very substandard nursing facilities that have subpar physical therapy was ! We said if this facility was full we'd accept placement in their unit ..but that as soon as a place opened up we'd transfer ..we got placement in our first choice and when I mentioned it there ..they said they had many issues with this particular hospital group
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Myownlife: That is a misstep because who is going to take care of that patient when are sent home after a hospital stay?
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Llamalover47, I agree with you, but there is a thing called "Freedom of Choice" and I have had some very stubborn patients who live alone and choose to go home; I can only guide them as best I can, but the ultimate choice is theirs.
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Traditionally, YES. That’s how it works. The hospital and the doctor order it.

I learned something reading this thread! Times are changing!
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Llamalover47

Myownlife is right. As long as the patient understands the Hospital will not be responsible for what happens to the patient after discharged, the patient can decide what he/she wants to do. Some hospitals will try to use phrases like "The doctor's feel he/she is too weak.." to try to persuade the patient to go to rehab.
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texasdr22 You are so right. Many hospitals do not give advanced notice to be able to find a decent facility. They want the patient out of the hospital ASAP.
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