After a nursing home helps get Medicaid approved, can you move the patient to a better facility?

I did this several times with my wife. Two times I changed NH when she was hospitalized. The different NH reps were in the hospital daily trying to get her to sign on with their facility.

Also, transferred her while in NH. I think I had to pay for transport from facility to facility.

People have the right to live where they want. Think of it as the current nursing home helped him in order to get the benefit. Doesn't mean he has to stay there. Call the other nursing home to see about open Medicaid beds before you mention it to anyone at current home.

I moved my mom on LTC Medicaid from 1 Nh to another within her first year, here’s my take on issues related on doing this:
- my moms 1st NH wasn’t beyond awful, nursing staff was ok but administration was a s-show w 3 administrators & admissions staff leaving and back office / billing always wrong on bills, yada yada. Then abt mo 8, SW let me know that she was leaving as did activities gal and that sealed it for finding a new NH.
- my mom did NOT make the NH her payee for her SS$ & retirement income. Mom kept old checking account where these were direct deposited. So every month I wrote out a check to NH to the penny for required co-pay. NH had no control over her income. This can be real important, more on this part below…
- it took 5 1/2 months to get Medicaid approval for LTC. It seems best to get beyond Medicaid application and get approved so that you have a set fixed copay done & up to date on the bill before any move. Personally would NOT move him until this happens as move will totally muck up processing his application and reimbursement system btw the NH and the state. Otherwise He will leave with a outstanding bill which NH can place for collection. If NH is vindictive or incompetent, they can basically not do any follow up if Medicaid contacts old NH.
- Medicaid allows for a move, if it’s considered a “lateral continuum of care”. So the new NH needs to be able to meet the same level of care as the old NH.
What new NH did was to send out their internal needs assessment team (RN & SW) to visit my mom at old NH. I had to as DPOA & MPOA sign off a document to allow for this and for them to access her chart from old gerontologist. They call me from her room to tell me all good and that I had a 30 ish day window to get her moved.
- New NH emailed me paperwork & I went over to new Nh next day to sign all and look at rooms mom would likely go into. Had it set up she’d move in on the 4th & before lunch.
- I faxed the old Nh that mom would be moving on 4th of incoming month and also sent via verified mail with the return registered card.
Why the 4th???
Remember they are REQUIRED to do a copy ea month of their income to the NH. Mom got her $’s on the 3rd. So I wrote a check for exactly 3 days of copay to old NH and to the new NH for the exact $ due rest of the month. Copay has to be current in order for no financial compliance issues with Medicaid or the the NH.
If your bro has made current NH his representative payee, then he is going to have to contact SSA to get that changed. SSA does not recognize POA so he will need to do this request. Old NH doesn’t necessarily have to be helpful on this……
- I basically started taking &/or jettisoning stuff from moms room once I started looking for new NH. A local cousin came and got things too so by the 4th, it was easy.
- one thing that would never have occurred to me was on medications. New NH told me it was really really important to get all meds when she left as Medicare/Medicaid will not pay for duplicate medications. So I took a sharpie and zip lock bags. The floor RN had to unlock them to give to me. Was somewhat hostile.
Pay attention to his meds, so u for sure get them all.
- at the time my mom was totally ambulatory on her own or with a 4 footed cane. So she could easily walk out of NH or get in & out of my SUV on her own. If your brother cannot walk unassisted, you might have to arrange for non medical transport service. I doubt MediCARE will pay for this as he’s making a choice to move; he’s not being required to move.
- new NH let me come over & set up her room day before. Rooms I had looked at before had all gotten filled, but was fine.
- entry time seems to be important. I’m remembering had to be there by 10:30 AM for daily census which Medicaid bases reimbursement on.

Moving them is a bit of a ballet, but do-able. Good luck

If the new facility will accept him as a Medicaid resident, then yes he can move. However, if things do not work out, do not expect the existing facility to take him back.

Just my 2 cents. Take it or leave it.

You are going to move your brother after the NH took their time and trouble helping with his Medicaid application? That application was done with the current NH being listed as the one that will receive the Medicaid payments. Thats why they helped with the application. Doubt if they would have if they had been aware that brother was going to transfer to another facility.

You need to call the Medicaid caseworker and run this by him/her. You then need to make sure the NH brother rather go to has a Medicaid bed open.

I think the best way is to call Medicaid directly and get a ruling from them.

Imho, I believe that you can move your brother to a different nursing home, pending Medicaid bed AVAILABILITY.

Absolutely!! It can get a little complex if you are moving from state to state (Medicaid is administered differently in each state) but it will be a piece of cake if you are staying in the same state. Just make sure that everyone is on board with the move including the patient. Make sure the new patient has an available Medicaid bed ready and waiting for your brother and check out any rules re: quarantine and visiting they may still have in place from the pandemic

Yes. You can move him to another facility when they have room for a Medicaid client. Talk to and tour several facilities. Make sure they show you and explain the amenities available for their clients on Medicaid. Sometimes, there are significant differences because of the differing amounts clients pay.

You do not have to remain any place if there is a vacancy, their job is to get the Institutional Medicaid, or they cannot get paid, that Is a job for any placement if the client is eligible. Just make sure you speak over all of this with the next desired place, meet in person and they know how to transfer but due to pandemic, be sure you know any Quarantine rules, or this could be delayed. Best to have all concerns written down and take a tour to be sure. Be sure this is desired by family member, not everyone adjust when moved.

Yes. He can be moved to a different nursing home.
My father was put into a far below average rating nursing home by the hospital after he had a stroke. He was there for a few months and the nursing home did the Medicaid application and it was approved.
I then had him placed in a better facility that was closer to where I live.
Here's the thing about nursing homes. All of them will get a person on Medicaid because no one can afford to pay what they charge. They take everything a person ever had and then they see them onto Medicaid so they continue to get paid.
That doesn't mean a person has to spend the rest of their life in the nursing home they were in when Medicaid became available to them.

Ask the facility that you want him transferred to to help arrange the transfer.
If they have a Medicaid bed available there should be no problem with the transfer.

Check with Medicaid and with the desired place you want to move to.

They might accept medicaid then want you to pay extra on the side.

Also, read your Contract with the place and see if you signed up for a certain amount of time.

yes His Medicaid is about him - not any facility

I would speak with the facility that you want to move him to. They will happily help you with the transfer.

In my area covid hit the nursing homes so hard that I would be very surprised if there wasn't a Medicaid bed available. The census is down here about 50%.

https://www.agingcare.com/questions/transfer-nursing-homes-medicaid-155819.htm?orderby=recent

If the desired NH has an open Medicaid bed there’s no reason why you can’t do a transfer

We have a poster here who has done just that, though I can't recall who it was. But yes, it IS possible.

don't have an answer on that- but how hard was getting Medicaid app done and how much work you had to do?