Nursefriendly.com: Hospital Discharges

Friday, February 18, 2011

Released hospital patients' many unhappy returns

Patients who are released from the hospital too early or without proper planning and instructions often wind up back in the hospital after a few days, a problem that's costly to taxpayers and distressing to patients.

A study released today calculated that reducing hospital stays by a single day for Medicare and Medi-Cal patients in California adds up to $227 million a year.

An estimated 81,000 Medicare patients in California - or 20 percent - end up back in the hospital within 30 days of being discharged for some reason related to the same condition, the study found.

"Right now, when you go to the hospital, it's the do-it-yourself model. It's up to you to figure out what to do," said David Grant, author of the study for the California Discharge Planning Collaborative, a group of labor, senior and other advocacy organizations.

Patients, especially those who are elderly and lack social support, are often readmitted because they don't understand their discharge instructions, fail to take their medications or have complications that they can't handle.

via sfgate.com

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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Guides help recovering patients find long-term care | The Salt Lake Tribune

An uncomfortable truth for anyone facing disability for a year or more: If you go into a nursing home, you might never get out.

Under patchwork Medicare provisions, says Utah Commission on Aging Director Maureen Henry, it is more convenient for hospitals to discharge patients to nursing homes than to figure out how they might live in their homes and communities.

But what looks like the easy solution can be costly. Nursing home bills may drive more people onto Medicaid, which costs taxpayers more, and the move can unnecessarily disrupt the community and impoverish the lives of patients, Henry says.

“You’re shifting residence; you’re shifting family structure out of the community and into the nursing facility,” she says.

Now, with the help of a $700,000 grant from the federal Administration on Aging, the Utah commission is linking hospital discharge staff with “options planners,” who help guide patients and their families through a complicated array of choices for extended care.

The way Medicare and Medicaid law works, people are guaranteed care in nursing homes. But there is no similar guarantee of coverage for care outside an institution, meaning family finances may limit the choices.

“People have the right to decide where and when they receive long-term care,” Henry says. “Our objective is to try to catch people before they are scrambling in a crisis, stop giving people the runaround.”

via sltrib.com