Aunt needs a skilled nursing facility for discharge from hospital. She is receiving comfort care. Can she be forced to be moved out of area? We are in Oregon.

See if her doctor(s) might could have her to be evaluated to go into a LTACH. Long Term Acute Care Hospital. Might be one in your larger city with an open bed.

They tend to fly under the radar on placement or even showing up as a facility.

It’s because you & I cannot ever, like ever, enter them on our own. They have no real public entrance and have no ER/ED. Entering is only by referral & usually by the hospitalist ( MD in charge of her and directing her hospital stay) as she needs extended noncustodial care. Needs savvy ICD-10 coding to show need for extended acute care.

Often are a separate floor & totally separate management from the rest of the hospital or in an adjacent building but connected by a bridge. Some are freestanding, like Kindred Hospital group, but nearby a general hospital. As it's technically hospital based care, it will be billed to Medicare.

Maybe just maybe, if she could go into a LTACH, it could be a band aid till a bed opens at that NH?

My late MiL went into one. She got pneumonia while in her NH and was sent via EMS to the hospital. Admitted and then got septic. She got evaluated for LTACH and went into the LTACH next door, rather than an attempt to go back to the NH. Was on hospice but still ok for treatment for non hospice related care at the LTACH. For MiL, it was a separate building with enclosed transportation/ walking bridge between it and the hospital. From the street it looked like just another part of the hospital but was its own facility with its own entrance. You as a visitor could not get into it via the hospital. She died maybe within the month, had cascading organ failure, but had she actually gotten better, would have transferred back to the old NH. Standard health insurance policies have to cover LTACH as it’s a hospital level stay, not a clinic stay, not a custodial care situation.

Really ask about LTACH possibility, fingers crossed! & then keep up with the NH to get her moved when an open bed happens.

I know two people that were under comfort care and both stayed in the hospital until they passed. Comfort care it seems is not done unless its felt the person will pass soon.

Too bad she doesn't live here in NE OH. The facility I'm in has 3 empty rooms

Yes, she could. That is to say she needs skilled nursing care for which there is not currently a bed in her area. She cannot stay in the hospital on acute care just because there is nothing in her immediate area. Sad as this is, if is often the case in smaller towns as skilled nursing facilities are not as common as rehab and nursing homes.

You say she is on comfort care. Is she also on hospice? If so, perhaps a hospice bed can be found. Otherwise the options are for family to have to travel the long distance to visit, or do in home care, which is impossible in most cases for any number of reason. I am so sorry. The even sadder truth is that she won't be first come first served in a waiting line for her own area, as beds will be filled as soon as they come available by hospital patients. This is a real tough situation and I am so sorry for it.