Medicare question re qualifying for rehab...

I called Medicare this morning and was told that the discharge date from the rehabilitation center was the one to count from. He’s not ill, so it confused her a bit as to why I was asking. I explained that we never know from day to day what tomorrow will hold.

Having been through this 3 times with my Mom....this is what Medicare requires......

the transfer to the rehab facility must be from an acute care hospital after a minimum of 3 days inpatient status. That rules out a transfer from home

each “event” that causes him to be in the hospital again is treated as a different event. The hospital is not going to readmit for a non emergency event.

now, if he keeps having the same injury over and over, Medicare might start to question if rehab is actually effective for him. They can deny rehab if it cannot help him (for whatever reason)

Jennifer, my advice would be to call medicare directly. They are VERY helpful once you get through the wait time. And taking the opinions and advice here is often a little scary. As you can see from some threads we often have differing opinions on things, and how things work. So just check with them. I haven't a clue of the answer, so after you talk to the folks at Medicare I would love your update. It's such an excellent question, and am certain many are faced with the dilemma.