How Many Days Does Medicare Pay for In Nursing Home or Rehab After Hospital Stay?

Hello All,

I was on the senior care forums these past few days and one of the threads was talking about how many days are covered by Medicare in a Nursing Home or Rehab after a hospital stay. The answers were all over the map and quite confusing I must confess, so I thought I would do a post about it to clear things up. I have always told my readers I am no expert, but when it comes to this subject I know it all to well. You see mom has been in and out of rehab 3 times in the past 2 years so we know the rules by heart.

According to Medicare rules a person must have a qualifying hospital stay of at least 3 days 
( 24 hours) and be in need of further skilled nursing or rehab care in order for them to pay for the stay. The doctor and the physical therapy department at the hospital must agree that the patient would benefit from continued care or therapy at a nursing home or rehab facility. 

It is important to note at this point that the patient needs to be an inpatient at the hospital for 3 days, and time spent in observation or the ER does not count. They have to be admitted to the hospital. This is very important!

Moving Mom Into An Adult Foster Care Home For the Aged

Hello Everyone,

After another fall and a return to rehab for several weeks my sister and I have finally taken the steps to move mom to and Adult Foster Care Home ( also called Homes for the Aged ) on a full time basis. This was one of the hardest,  heartwrenching decision we have ever had to make, but it was best for all.

AFC - a house like you or I would live in, only with some modifications inside to accommodate the residents.

My mom as you may know from my previous posts has lived with either myself or my sister since 2001 when dad passed away. She is now almost 92 and has started to develop dementia. My sister and I are not getting any younger and the increased care my mother required was making it very difficult. She could no longer be left alone even for a few hours to go shopping so we had to have someone with her around the clock and night time care literally meant no sleep for my sister, who has and needs to keep her daytime job as her husband was laid off after 27 years, leaving them with one income.

We therefore decided it was time. Time to make things better for all involved, especially mom. We searched and searched and finally found a wonderful Adult Foster Care Home only 10 minutes from both of us.

Update On Mom: Rehab Again

Hello Everyone,

As of yesterday mom is now in rehab again. Two weeks ago this Saturday she was sitting on the side of her bed and apparently ( no one was in the room at the time ) dozed off for a moment and she went down on the floor landing on her knees. At the time my brother who lives out of state was in for a visit. The entire day was spent with the 4 of us in the ER with mom. As the hours passed and the tests came in we were encouraged when told that she did not break anything, which is remarkable because the doctors have told us for many years that mom's bones are so thin from osteoporosis that fractures come easy to someone like her. In fact she fractured her toe just bumping it against the shower edge. Thankfully this time no breaks, however her knee did have a huge split in it and required 12 stitches. I think maybe because she was suffering from edema at the time that perhaps the extra water protected her? ( just a guess )