The local skilled nursing facility is full. Tried memory care with hospice, but not qualified due to medical conditions. I live out of town in a bigger city. If a skilled nursing facility could not be found in my town, could she be forced to move out of town to any available facility. Options are a town 75 miles away or a town 125 miles away. Both optional towns do not have any family members there to check on my aunt.
They tend to fly under the radar on placement or even showing up as a facility.
It’s because you & I cannot ever, like ever, enter them on our own. They have no real public entrance and have no ER/ED. Entering is only by referral & usually by the hospitalist ( MD in charge of her and directing her hospital stay) as she needs extended noncustodial care. Needs savvy ICD-10 coding to show need for extended acute care.
Often are a separate floor & totally separate management from the rest of the hospital or in an adjacent building but connected by a bridge. Some are freestanding, like Kindred Hospital group, but nearby a general hospital. As it's technically hospital based care, it will be billed to Medicare.
Maybe just maybe, if she could go into a LTACH, it could be a band aid till a bed opens at that NH?
My late MiL went into one. She got pneumonia while in her NH and was sent via EMS to the hospital. Admitted and then got septic. She got evaluated for LTACH and went into the LTACH next door, rather than an attempt to go back to the NH. Was on hospice but still ok for treatment for non hospice related care at the LTACH. For MiL, it was a separate building with enclosed transportation/ walking bridge between it and the hospital. From the street it looked like just another part of the hospital but was its own facility with its own entrance. You as a visitor could not get into it via the hospital. She died maybe within the month, had cascading organ failure, but had she actually gotten better, would have transferred back to the old NH. Standard health insurance policies have to cover LTACH as it’s a hospital level stay, not a clinic stay, not a custodial care situation.
Really ask about LTACH possibility, fingers crossed! & then keep up with the NH to get her moved when an open bed happens.
You say she is on comfort care. Is she also on hospice? If so, perhaps a hospice bed can be found. Otherwise the options are for family to have to travel the long distance to visit, or do in home care, which is impossible in most cases for any number of reason. I am so sorry. The even sadder truth is that she won't be first come first served in a waiting line for her own area, as beds will be filled as soon as they come available by hospital patients. This is a real tough situation and I am so sorry for it.