You have to find a Medicaid pays for housing situation for MIL.
Is MIL at the point where she could qualify for needing the skilled level of nursing care that a NH provides? like when you are there does she fit in at the AL or does she seem to need a higher level of care? What are her medication needs and can she do them on her own, how is she on doing her ADL's?
If it seems that MIL maybe is at the end of being OK for AL, does the AL she is in have an affliated NH that takes Medicaid? OR if MIL clearly is just fine in AL, does your state do a Medicaid waiver that pays for AL? Contact the social worker at the AL and have a heart to heart talk with them. All facilities are required to have a social worker and they are full of all sorts of information. I've found that they often are much more realistic and matter of fact on things as they are in a more secure job situation than admissions (which is often all about selling and selling private pay).
For some states, Medicaid is NH care. If that is your state's approach, then you are going to have to do whatever to get her medically qualified for a NH. If her MD won't write the orders for NH, then you will have more work to do. I moved my mom from IL to NH and bypassed AL totally. The facility she was in was a "tiered" one that did IL, AL, NH and hospice. I thought it was just perfect and in theory mom could age and her funds dwindle along with her. Well so much for that...the medical director would not find my mom needing skilled nursing. His position was she was fine for AL and AL is totally private pay at only.She had the funds for less than another year of IL at this point. So what I did was have my mom become a patient of a MD who was also medical director of a NH which had open Medicaid beds. Every 4 -6 weeks she had a visit with careful weigh in's, evaluation, etc. Basically creating the file to show the need for skilled nursing. The visit she hit a 10% weight loss and a sketchy H&H lab work, he wrote the orders for skilled nursing needed. She moved into the NH. It was not exactly my first choice of a NH but got her into the system. Moved her to another and much better NH within the year too. Moving her to another NH was super easy too - it's the getting them in and qualified for Medicaid that is a real maddening maze. But you just have to keep asking about to find a Medicaid situation that can work for her. Good luck and keep a sense of humor.
Is MIL at the point where she could qualify for needing the skilled level of nursing care that a NH provides? like when you are there does she fit in at the AL or does she seem to need a higher level of care? What are her medication needs and can she do them on her own, how is she on doing her ADL's?
If it seems that MIL maybe is at the end of being OK for AL, does the AL she is in have an affliated NH that takes Medicaid? OR if MIL clearly is just fine in AL, does your state do a Medicaid waiver that pays for AL? Contact the social worker at the AL and have a heart to heart talk with them. All facilities are required to have a social worker and they are full of all sorts of information. I've found that they often are much more realistic and matter of fact on things as they are in a more secure job situation than admissions (which is often all about selling and selling private pay).
For some states, Medicaid is NH care. If that is your state's approach, then you are going to have to do whatever to get her medically qualified for a NH. If her MD won't write the orders for NH, then you will have more work to do. I moved my mom from IL to NH and bypassed AL totally. The facility she was in was a "tiered" one that did IL, AL, NH and hospice. I thought it was just perfect and in theory mom could age and her funds dwindle along with her. Well so much for that...the medical director would not find my mom needing skilled nursing. His position was she was fine for AL and AL is totally private pay at only.She had the funds for less than another year of IL at this point. So what I did was have my mom become a patient of a MD who was also medical director of a NH which had open Medicaid beds. Every 4 -6 weeks she had a visit with careful weigh in's, evaluation, etc. Basically creating the file to show the need for skilled nursing. The visit she hit a 10% weight loss and a sketchy H&H lab work, he wrote the orders for skilled nursing needed. She moved into the NH. It was not exactly my first choice of a NH but got her into the system. Moved her to another and much better NH within the year too. Moving her to another NH was super easy too - it's the getting them in and qualified for Medicaid that is a real maddening maze. But you just have to keep asking about to find a Medicaid situation that can work for her.
Good luck and keep a sense of humor.