The nursing home gave up mom’s bed. Any thoughts on what I should do to fight this?

Talk with the social worker at the hospital. Explain all this to them and discharge planning. They will have to find a placement for her anyway...and they may have leverage with that NH thatbyou do not. Maybe they will find another bed.

Honestly, a NH that would do this to an elder is just cruel. Forcing such a big change on her is very detrimental to her....what a lousy place!

It sucks.

But the NH probably has a good reason.

Think about it from their point of view. Their options are:

1. Disrupt your mother's living situation by, in effect, evicting her. Disrupt her room-mate's routine. Piss you off. Make the aides feel bad. Give the hospital, their near neighbour, an admin. headache and behave in a way which is not good PR. Acquire a new resident of unknown quantity in terms of care needs and socialisation skills.

or

2. Hold the room for your mother. They continue to receive her fees but have no work to do while she remains in hospital. No reason they shouldn't be happy with that - unless there is some other factor at work.

So since they have gone for option #1, which seems by far the less attractive and profitable, there must be some additional factor. Have you had a conversation with them about what it might be?

If your mother is on Medicaid, the nursing home is not paid by Medicaid for holding her bed until she gets back. The bed may have been held by Medicare prior to this via rehab or the facility was willing to take the hit. Was she there on rehab or as long term patient? My father-in-law had to pay a bed-hold fee when Mother-in-law went to hospital from rehab in a non-profit facility with Medicaid beds. After the 4th time back to the hospital, unless you pay the bed-hold deposit Medicaid requires them to discharge her and readmit. If they have no available beds, the nursing home does not have to take her back. Yes, it is a crummy deal. Did the nursing home offer to let you pay a fee to hold her room? It may also be that your parent is needing a high level of care that the nursing home doesn't want to take the hit on - repeated hospitalizations mean that both Medicare, private insurance and Medicaid (if in play) will be looking closely.

I remembered when my own Mom was in the hospital for a few days, her nursing home asked for a "hold bed deposit" which I quickly paid as I didn't want to deal with moving Mom elsewhere. Plus the nursing home was just blocks away making it easy for my Dad to visit any time he wanted.

Now that I think about it, it was rather odd to have this deposit since my Mom was self-pay and paid on time. Could be extensive Administration work involved every time a patient leaves a nursing home for the hospital.

Under CA Medicaid the bed is held for 7 days unless doctor states hospital stay may exceed the 7 days. But it’s day 3 and he says she’s ready to go back. Her nurse was even puzzled that they had moved her items. If there was a question of payment. Why not contact me. I only found out because I went to try and pick up her laundry and check her nightstand/pantry. She’s long term. She’s been there since June. She’s had a few hospital visits, while there. I doubt they ate any costs. I think the issue here is the case worker. She tried to have my mom leave afternoon 2 weeks. I had to call the ombudsman’s and her insurance to see if it was true she only has a 2 week coverage. We haven’t been on speaking terms since I brought her the letter that states she’s authorized for long term coverage until July 2018.

It is a tough situation....I do not blame the NH based on the info you provided in your question....Private pay or Medicaid? As said, states differ on bed-holding rules under Medicaid...The NH is a for-profit enterprise. I can identify with your dilemma.
(My wife's bed at her NH was given to a new patient while she was in the hospital.
She was on Medicaid.)

Grace + Peace,

Bob

This all depends on if she is on Medicaid or private pay.

If she is on Medicaid (in Missouri) the facility is required to hold the bed for three days providing the facility is 97 % full. If she is in the hospital past the three days, Medicaid will not pay anything and if the facility is full the resident goes to the top of the waiting list to come back.

If she is private pay most facilities require the resident/or their family to pay for the bedhold. The home is required to ask you if you want to pay for bedhold or not. If they don't then they can't charge you for bedhold. If you have already paid for the month then that would cover the cost of the bedhold. Bedhold is generally the cost of room and board per day.

Check the Medicaid rules. Go back and try to have a private conversation with the nursing staff. It may be economics, it may be behavioural, it could be the room mate. You have to find out all the facts.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned an Elder Attorney. It sounds to me like this could be a legal matter and the NH could be at fault.

I am VERY suspicious of ALL nursing homes and assisted livings! They seem to absolutely SPECIALIZE in physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially abusing patients and their friends, family members, and visitors! If you are a friend, family member, or visitor, NH staffers and admins. threaten you and set up situations designed to bar you from the premises when you are good at defending patients who are being abused! When it is the patient, staffers are intentionally abusive to patients when the patient has no witnesses. Then, conveniently, there are witnesses EVERYWHERE when the patient FINALLY reacts to constant insults, neglect, poor pain control, poor food, being yelled at for no reason, being matronized, waiting forever to get help, and having property FREQUENTLY stolen! Let's not even TALK about the unfair record demerits with no notice to anyone, and the intentional black balling of patients with other nursing homes and assisted livings as punishment for refusing to yield to power drunk staff and admins. Then, there is the matter of being served last in the dining room constantly, and then being lied to by being told that it isn't because the patient isn't full pay, and isn't because of counterattacks against the constant abuse, when it OBVIOUSLY is! They run these places like prison camps, and simply won't tolerate patient, family members, friends, and visitors who refuse to roll over and play dead!