Facilities of Different Care Levels

PLEASE SHARE & PASS AROUND THIS STATUS TO SAVE ANY FAMILY & PATIENT OUT THERE THE PAIN & MEDICAL HELL WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH THIS PAST MONTH:

We need to help each other.

There are all different types of health care facilities.

There are skilled nursing facilities (nursing homes), there are Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs), Major Hospitals, & then there are LTAC hospitals (Long Term Acute Care Hospitals). The LTAC my mother has been in 3 times has an ICU but LTACs generally don't have ERs or Operating Rooms. The average stay for a patient at an LTAC is 28 days. The stay is covered by all types of insurers but getting admitted usually requires coming over from a major hospital. If an LTAC admits too many patients in a year that discharge prior to 28 days they pay a fine or penalty so for certain types of stays it is in the interest of the patient to go there. The problem is that if the patient is healthier a week after they go in there they will keep or make the patient suffer medically to justify the 28 day stay. There are ways to do this. My mother has stayed at this facility 3 times now. In March 2012 she went there to wean off a ventilator & onto a trache. They took good care of her & I was grateful to have her there because the major hospital had exhausted her days she could be there. W/O them she would have remained on a vent forever & had a lower quality of life since. When she got pneumonia the week of Thanksgiving in her nursing home we sent her to the major hospital. Then because she was getting IV antibiotics we sent her this same LTAC to complete her IV antibiotics. I did not realize that they would harm a patient to avoid that penalty for early withdrawal. I wasn't even aware of the early discharge fee. During the course of her stay they changed the course of very strong antibiotics 3 different times so that when she went back to her nursing home she was only healthy for 1 week & straight back to the ER. At this ER her bacteria was immune to 8 antibiotics so they had to put her on one that was $1,000.00 a dose. It was the only one left that would heal her. 4 doses a day. So before any other care costs she has had $4,000.00 a day of antibiotics going into her. Well a nursing home under nursing home medicaid cannot afford a patient on that price of antibiotic so where does that force her to go? Right back to the LTAC that made her immune to any cures
for future illnesses or suffering. And of course the 28 day stay again is going to force them to abuse antibiotics all over again. The 1,000.00 a dose Zosyn was supposed to be a 14 day course (not 28 days). The LTAC accepted her this time promising to only keep her the remainder of the 14 days while finishing the Zosyn. Then on the 14th day she looked great. Her WBC was 8.5. The pulmonologist recommended that they DC the Zosyn to get labs. The Infectious Disease specialist disagreed & the general attending did not have the power nor did the pulm. to overthrow the decision of the ID doc so they kept her on this powerful antibioitic past its normal course. By W-T her WBC was back up to 15, by F-S it was back down to 13 & she had been on Zosyn for 20 days. Past the 14th day she had new trouble breathing. This whole week her kidneys became comprised for the first time in 6 months & lungs took a hit. I tried to change her ID doctor & the place agreed but never did so which further harmed her. All of this was for the 28 day stay to avoid a penalty. My mother went to the ER with a white blood cell count of 21 & a BUN of 40. She is Severe Alzheimer's & is in medical hell because of a penalty for patients early DCs from LTACs. Be very cautious of admitting a frail person to a place that has an average stay of 28 days. And if you inquire of this to the admissions/marketing people at these places or to the discharge planner at a major hospital trying to get her out of the building (which is their job) they will most definitely lie to keep their job. You do not want to put your loved one through what my mother has been through this week. Also a POA, next of kin or legal guardian cannot get a patient out of an LTAC unless they want to do it AMA and pay the ambulance transfer costs & possibly the ER costs w/o insurance covering because it is AMA. I had to fight for 5 hours to get her out & almost couldn't get her out of there. The 5 hours further jeopardized her health. A POA or responsible party can always get a patient out of a nursing home or major hospital. Never at an LTAC. The patient can't even get themselves transferred or discharged. They keep you against patient wishes.