Can rehab discharge a patient who can't live on their own?

Daisy23, sounds like you need to check with the Social Worker at the rehab facility to see if he/she can locate a bed in another long-term-care facility.

Unfortunately your Dad needs to leave the rehab section of the facility and move into a higher skilled section, and if there is no bed, there is nothing the facility can do. That bed he is currently in is for Rehab only.

My Mom was in a Rehab facility and she had also plateaued, her next step was long-term-care. The facility did allow her to stay a few days in Rehab until a bed opened up in their long-term-care floor, Mom needed to be self-pay for those extra days, as Medicare had stopped paying after 21 days. I don't know if the facility was accepting Medicaid patients or not. Not every long-term-care facilities does.

If you have expressed to the rehab that there is no one to take care of dad, I don’t think they legally can. At my husband’s rehab, they managed to stick another bed into a room where he stayed for about a week. Maybe you could suggest that to the facility. Work with the facility’s discharge planner or social worker and let them know you need help. This is what they do. They have a responsibility to Dad. Question them, get the facts and then go from there. And don’t be afraid to speak up.