from Marie
I think you need to be enlightened about Medicare. You should get your facts straight before you start putting people/institutions down.
First and foremost, look up your Medicare regs. After being on Medicare for six years, I’m still learning and its not simple by any stretch of the imagination.
When you go into the hospital (any), a case manager is assigned for discharge planning and yes, discharge planning is started the minute your admitted! Yours is not the only case she has. In the small hospital you mentioned, the CM probably has anywhere from 10-20 patients she has to deal with on a daily basis. For you to badmouth her efforts was way out of line. Also, in a small hospital like DKH, there is probably only one Social Worker for the entire Medical population. That stretches her pretty thin. If you want to criticize someone, go to the heart of the matter, the CEO.
It was unfortunate you had such a bad experience. Unfortunately, when there are “end of life” issues, its always a sticky situation. The general population just does not understand how these things work. They should have seminars for ignorant people like you.
As for nursing homes (NH), its not “just picking up the phone and making a call.” It involves sending over insurance information and if that works out, then the whole medical chart is sent and the NH makes a decision as to whether they want to take the patient or not. Hence, the request for “three NH selections.” And sometimes even this doesn’t work. The “ward being half empty” had nothing to do with the availability of the CM. Cases in the hospital these days require a lot of attention. There are times when a patient stays for WEEKS because an appropriate NH cannot be found. Read the rest of this entry »
