Hospital Discharge Planning for Medicare Patients

For Medicare patients, hospital discharge planning can be very important. According to recent studies, about 20% of Medicare patients discharged from hospitals must return to the hospital within the first month. Not only is this worrisome for the patients and their families, but it actually costs Medicare billions of dollars every year.

A lot of the reason why patients are being discharged from hospitals before they are ready is likely due to the bad payment structure offered by Medicare. If hospitals spent more time on discharge planning for these Medicare patients, it could save the taxpayers billions of dollars, not to mention it would probably save lives as well.

If your loved one is admitted to the hospital, you can help with the discharge process by being proactive in their hospital care. Talk with the nurse and doctor as soon as possible about discharge planning. Some questions to ask would include, how long does the doctor expect the patient to be hospitalized, and what type of care will be needed once the patient is at home.

In addition to the patient's condition, you will have to take a few other things into consideration, such as how much care the person will need when they are at home, and if there will be someone there to provide that care. You can expect the hospital to pressure you into agreeing to a discharge, but if you feel that your loved one is not ready to go home, voice your concerns to the hospital staff and doctor.

When the patient is discharged make sure that the hospital has provided a sufficient discharge plan that includes everything the patient will need to recover in a home setting. This may consist of oxygen, medications, and visits by a home nurse.

If you don't feel that your loved one is ready to be discharged from the hospital, but they are sent home regardless of your concerns, you do have the right to appeal this decision. By law the hospital must provide you with information about the appeals process, if they don't offer you this information, ask for it.

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