Posted on August 2, 2012 - by Nurse Virginia
Her grandma Lilly was 82 years old. She had been living alone and really doing quite well till about a month ago. Lilly started talking about having a ?full feeling? around her abdomen. This became progressively worse until she was having trouble keeping food down and the doctor put her in the hospital for tests.
Two days later grandma Lilly has a diagnosis of end stage liver cancer, and they aren?t going to treat it. The hospital recommends that Lilly go to a nursing facility. The family agrees because there is no one available to take care of grandma, so the family comes to pick her up to take her to the local nursing home. Only to find out once at the nursing home that yes Medicare benefits pay for 100 days of nursing home care, but only after you have spent 3 nights in the hospital.
Now Lilly?s granddaughter wonders how many of the hospital staff who saw Lilly knew this information and never said anything. Couldn?t they have kept her that one more night which would mean so much to Lilly now? Lilly doesn?t have 100 days of life left; it would have been nice to be taken care of by healthcare professionals her last days instead of feeling like a burden to her family
Lilly is a real grandma, but in healthcare we are seeing more and more Lilly?s. And now there is yet another consideration that families need to be aware of. Hospitals are answerable to new regulations that frown upon re-admissions. Hospitals are in danger of losing major funding if they have a bad record of re-admissions. So they now are bringing more and more seniors into the hospital for ?observation.?
You could literally be in the hospital several days and not be considered admitted because your status is observation. Those days of observation do not qualify for the 3 over nights necessary for Medicare benefits in a nursing facility, you must actually be admitted
Looks like there will be many more Lillys, Berthas, Vivians, ?Edgars, Ralphs, and so on that will need to be taken care of by their families.
?
Virginia Garberding R.N.
Director of Education, The Wealshire, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Author: Please Get To Know Me ? Aging with Dignity and Relevance
www.pleasegettoknowme.com
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