Can long term care facility just place my mother in a nursing facility if I cannot settle for one in time.

anonymous67, facilities can't hold beds for more than two days. There is such a shortage of beds and waiting lists are long. So if you are hospitalized and lose the bed, you get the next bed available and often in a different place.

Yeah she is saying they have one also. The others she is suggesting are not rated well in North Carolina.

The trend is for many NHs to have LTAC as well. This way, loved one can go from LTAC to NH/AL without leaving the premises.

vstefans

Thank you for trying to allay the fears of anonymous67,but hospital wants he out ASAP, lest the mom has a set back where the hospital could be held responsible. SW, wants her to choose, so they can get the ball rolling in getting mom out the hospital. An added bonus for the hospital, the facility will pay them a referral fee and will contact the referring hospital, if mom needs emergency care in the future.

I think I just posted on another thread about this - and the thing is they are not necessarily being callous, and you really ARE scared and sad. That would be normal, as this is scary, sad stuff. You need a lot more information about your realistic options, and of course they should be telling you about moves and giving you a chance to accompany her. It sounds like communication between you and either SW or d/c planner is very poor! Can you meet with them for an hour or half hour at some point and make sure they understand your situation and give you a list of places that could accept her that you could rent a car or use public transportations to check out in advance? Or explore whether home care is an option, with you and any nursing or aide help they can round up?

Their point of view is they cannot just keep her indefinitely with no plan and no funding, and there are undoubtedly better places than an LTAC in terms of quality of life for your mom. Sorry you are in this situation but try to work with the staff and don't assume they are just heartless and unwiilng to help. Now if it turns out they ARE just that - well, there is a grievance procedure you follow that they are required to post, and an Office of Long Term Care where you could file a complaint.

If a patient needs a higher level of care, the facility will place Mom where ever there is an available bed. That available bed could be down the street or way over in another city. You really need to do what is best for your Mom. Your Mom will travel via an ambulance transporter service, and they need to run on a tight schedule whether you are there or not. Medicare will pay for the transporter.

I know you want Mom in the facility in town near you, but is her bed still available there? I remember when my Mom had to go to the hospital for a few days, I had to pay for a "hold" on her bed at long-term-care, otherwise she would have been placed in another facility once discharged from the hospital.