What experiences have you had with a LTAC? Good and bad

When a person is in a hospital for over 3 or 4 days Rehab is usually the next step.

Medicare pays 100% for the first 20 days. 21st to 100th day they pay 50%. After the 20th day Mom will be responsible for the 50% Medicare doesn't pay. If she has a good suppliment, it may pay the balance or part of it. Any balance left will need to be paid by Mom. The 100 days is not guaranteed. Mom could be discharged at anytime because she has reached her Plateau or not making progress. Medicare determines discharged based on what the facility tell them about a patients progress.

When Mom is discharged, this is when decisions will need to be made. Can Mom come home with minimal care or will she need 24/7 care? Is her home set up for her needs? If she needs 24/7 care will family members be able to provide it or will she need to hire it?

Money, if Mom is in rehab the full 100 days allowed and insurance not paying the 50% balance, can Mom afford the approx 12k that it will cost. If not then Medicaid gets involved. (Not sure how this works short term) If its found that she needs 24/7 care and family agrees that Longterm care is required and Mom has no money, then Medicaid longterm will need to be applied for.

This is overwhelming. I suggest you sit down with the Social Worker and have her explain how this will all work out for Mom.

Thank you for the extra information you gave us, not retired. I will say this. You don't tell us your Mom's age, but status post stroke, let us assume approximately 2 weeks, she may not recover a whole lot more than what you are seeing. I think that doctors may encourage you to recognize that your Mom has little hope of quality of life returning to her, and may suggest LTC placement with hospice. You do not say much about her current condition. Are you seeing a lot of improvement in mentation and communication, what are current scans showing, what is the prognosis from the doctor responsible for acute brain injuries. She will require at the least SNF. She needs skilled nursing long term for now, but she doesn't need rehab if there is no sign that she can benefit from PT or OT. She may have little chance to recover. You will have decisions to make about whether to insert feeding tubes or not; personally I would not do so. I encourage you to speak to doctors about whether or not it is time for you to explore palliative care or hospice, which will recognize that Mom may not recover, and will attempt to give her comfort for end of life care, rather than any expectation that things will change overmuch. Ask the doctors for their honest input, and then make the decisions the best you can. There is no fix it for some situation, and there are some situations that cannot have a happy outcome, or an easy one. I am so sorry and I wish you the best. I have long had written into my advanced directive and have discussed with family that I no longer wish to be fed by artificial means or be intubated. The end of life comes to us all. At 79 this year I am more than ready. I am so sorry and wish you the best.

We need a lot of information before we can answer this. Please give us the facts in this case. I can only guess that you are speaking of "long term acute care?" But have utterly no idea really. Look forward to your update here on this thread.

What's LTAC or MICU?