How do you evaluate Skilled Nursing places that also have Therapists?

Is your husband transferring from the hospital to a nursing home for rehab? Meaning he will stay for therapy and then return home? Or, will he get physical therapy there and stay there indefinitely? I can relate what happened with my mom who was 84 when she entered rehab.

When leaving the hospital for rehab, the coordinator gave us 3 picks. They get the insurance approval and availability. We chose our top picks based on friends and family recommendations. My grandfather and uncle had also been in this facility, plus our family knew multiple staff members who work there. And, it was conveniently located so all adult child within short drive. They have a good reputation in the community for good care.

It turns out the PT was excellent too and I met with the head of PT and have developed a good relationship. As it turns out despite the PT, my mom transitioned into long term care and it’s likely she’ll remain there.

Depending on the particular ailments, continued long term care seems common for those in a nursing home. I suspect this is due to the need of wheelchairs for most all mobility and continued medical conditions that need daily skilled nursing care. My mom loves her regular doctor, but the nursing home has their house doctor who sees all the patients and is on call 24/7. Mother goes out for specialty appointments, but the dentist and ophthalmologist go to her.

For my situation, where I go by my mom’s nursing home daily, the location is vital. I would give that factor much weight. The level of care is equally important.

Do you have any recommendations yet?

@grrranny Generally, a social worker at the hospital will locate available beds in a rehab facility and figure out the insurance. Then, you and your husband can choose what is best for him.

@celia16 has provided you with excellent advice given her experience with her mom. In many facilities, the therapists work for another agency and come to the facility on a contractual basis. I would be my loved one’s “case manager” and make sure that the therapy occurs on a regular basis as ordered by the physician. I live in a rural area and so I can ask my friends and neighbors about their experiences at our local facilities. Is that something you would like to do?

@naturegirl5
Not true. When I got hurt I was told I need to go to rehab, which was part of a nursing. My family don’t live close and they put me in one. I didn’t want to go to.. They just took whatever and did not do what you were saying. I was starving because I have food allergies, and they could not figure out what to give me for 15 days. Black mold on the ceiling took five days before someone even came and looked at it to get it remove. The mattress was old that too took five days
I used to work at a nursing home and I could not believe that this place was still allowed to do this type of care.
Be careful walk through the place check out the bedrooms, the beds, showers or baths
Double check to make sure that they will get adequate food
Then things will be OK. I had a very bad experience
Wish you

@minnesota10 Just a note to follow up on what you've shared. I wrote:

"Generally, a social worker at the hospital will locate available beds in a rehab facility and figure out the insurance." This is not going to be the case everywhere and I did write "generally" to offset whether or not this would be "true" for everyone. Friends, family, and I have had helpful experiences with social workers at the acute care hospital who have helped find rehab facilities.

Your experience is certainly a very negative one and I hope that particular facility is no longer. I do know of others who have had negative experiences.

I agree that it's very important for family members to do a walk through at the facility they are considering. I have a family member in upstate NY (Hudson Valley) who went to rehab facility after a complex break in her leg. She was there for a month and she had a positive experience. Her hospital social worker where she was first treated and where she had surgery located this rehab facility for her.

I had to go through this with my brother.
I lived thousands of miles away from him. He was transitioning from hospital to rehab facility.
I looked on line and looked for a facility close to family members in NJ. When I found a facility that posted pictures on the internet and all looked good that told me that they had just remodeled. And that was confirmed to me by the facility. If they don't post pictures of the facility that to me is a concern.
Also, the rehab facility provided the transportation from the hospital to the rehab facility for free after my finding out that other facilities do that for free. My brother was on VA (they paid for the hospital stay) and Original Medicare only paid for 20 days of rehab facility...which is never enough time.
So I had to know what would and would not be paid etc.
It was important to me to have a facility that wouldn't depress a visitor as they walked through it or the patient.
From all I have learned, it is important to have a caring person go to the facility daily and not necessarily at the same time every day. That visit helps, somewhat, in keeping the facility of their toes with the patient.
Barbara

@minnesota10
I’m sorry you had such an awful experience. The choice of facilities offered through the hospital case managers often have a lot to do with availability when you are transferring and your insurance. My dad has an advantage plan that isn’t popular with the better facilities—placement in a good place has always been a problem post hospitalization. You are right, the crummier places really should be dealt with—no one should have to endure that!

My mom was fortunate to have the activities director arrange her a flower box on the veranda where we could plant flowers so my mom could enjoy them. And, arrange social events, Bible study, movies, etc. It’s much more than I had ever expected. She doesn’t always feel up to activities, but they are available.

@celia16 Don't know yet.
They found a place for him, but said he wasn't stable-enough to go today -- whatever that means.
Maybe tomorrow.

@grrranny, that could be taken in different ways. Hopefully, things will improve and they can arrange the transfer. I wasn’t anxious to get my mom out of hospital, because she needed so much skilled nursing care. Turns out, the nursing home did a great job at healing her skin breakdown.