It’s Wednesday 11/1. My mom was taken to the hospital on Monday 10/30. She’s been at a nursing home since June. She has breakthrough seizures that require hospital stays. 4 so far. Each one she has gone to the hospital, her bed has been held and she goes back after getting discharged. This time however they gave her room to a new patient and placed her things in a storage closet. Now they want to just say they don’t have a bed for her, sorry. I really don’t want to have to move her. She got along with the nurses. Her roommate. Her hospital is 3 minutes away. She has anxiety. Change in environments and routines increases her anxiety. Any thoughts on what I should do to fight this? She hasn’t been discharged yet. So I have some time, but not much. Her doctor seems ready to discharge. Mom is eager to go back as well.
Honestly, a NH that would do this to an elder is just cruel. Forcing such a big change on her is very detrimental to her....what a lousy place!
But the NH probably has a good reason.
Think about it from their point of view. Their options are:
1. Disrupt your mother's living situation by, in effect, evicting her. Disrupt her room-mate's routine. Piss you off. Make the aides feel bad. Give the hospital, their near neighbour, an admin. headache and behave in a way which is not good PR. Acquire a new resident of unknown quantity in terms of care needs and socialisation skills.
or
2. Hold the room for your mother. They continue to receive her fees but have no work to do while she remains in hospital. No reason they shouldn't be happy with that - unless there is some other factor at work.
So since they have gone for option #1, which seems by far the less attractive and profitable, there must be some additional factor. Have you had a conversation with them about what it might be?
Now that I think about it, it was rather odd to have this deposit since my Mom was self-pay and paid on time. Could be extensive Administration work involved every time a patient leaves a nursing home for the hospital.
If medicare/insurance is primary payer, when she is sent to the hospital she is technically discharged from that facility's care if she is actually readmitted at the hospital. Noone is paying for that bed then, therefore it is up for grabs for the next patient in need.
If she is long term medicaid, each state is different. Illinois has to hold a bed 10 days for a medicaid patient.
(My wife's bed at her NH was given to a new patient while she was in the hospital.
She was on Medicaid.)
Grace + Peace,
Bob
If she is on Medicaid (in Missouri) the facility is required to hold the bed for three days providing the facility is 97 % full. If she is in the hospital past the three days, Medicaid will not pay anything and if the facility is full the resident goes to the top of the waiting list to come back.
If she is private pay most facilities require the resident/or their family to pay for the bedhold. The home is required to ask you if you want to pay for bedhold or not. If they don't then they can't charge you for bedhold. If you have already paid for the month then that would cover the cost of the bedhold. Bedhold is generally the cost of room and board per day.
Contact Medicare to see if she still has full coverage.
r of the nursing home and a lawyer
If they are required to hold the bed and you Did provide the bed hold, they must provide that bed for your mom. Yes, after 100 days, when Medicare payments have been exhausted, they try to push people out of their facility. Further, if they do, you call the admissions office and speak to them about it. If they continue to refuse her admission, you tell them you will file a formal written complaint to the office that regulates this in your state. Eg. in NY it is in Albany. I forget the name of the organization that manages this. And, the nursing home will usually either be forced to take back you mom or face stiff financial penalties. The penalties are significantly more expensive than taking your mom back. You can also call the Ombudsman for your mom's county and they will direct you where to file a complaint. However, first call admissions and tell them you intend to do this and see how they immediately make a bed available for her. And, for 2 to 3 days, you may not have even had to file for a bed hold.... If not on Medicaid, you or your mom's insurance company would probably have to pay for the days the bed was held. So first read the rules & regs for the facility, then do some quick research to understand what laws apply, then take action. This happened to my dad who is bedridden. After repeatedly refusing to take him back and researching online the law, I left a message for the Director of Admissions. They welcomed my dad with open arms........however, I sent him elsewhere after they accepted him back since I then knew his care would continue to be so negligent, he would die. He went into the nursing home from a previous hospital stay, completely septic with a temperature of 103.5. It turns out, nursing homes accept people from hospitals but may not have their medications on hand to actually administer them until they are ordered and then received. Turns out, my was on multiple antibiotics for acute infections, bed wounds. My dad was accepted to this 5 star facility, but he was only there for 3 & 1/2 days when he was readmitted to the hospital with 103.5 for their negligence in not having his medication on hand when they accepted him.........
nutritional care to your mom. here is a doctor that can do so much for your mom.
I believe tis is his website. he can do what these allopathic (western medicine) doctors don"t do. he doesn't use drugs to treat health problems.
I can help you some also. since I do my own health care. First thing , dementia is
caused by deterioration of the circulatory system, your blood vessels, lack of B-vitamin leads to this. regular pill vitamins with B-vitamins cannot be absorbed in
the digestive tract of an older person, so you have to take B-vitamin shots or sub-lingual B-Vitamin that can be bought in health food stores . Buy B-total ( 2 tubes to
a box). This will enable your mom"s overall health improve, but, check out Dr. Al Sears
who has a clinic in Royal Palm Beach, Fl. If you want to email me, my email is
Best Wishes,
Warren