Imagine this…you
are laying in a hospital bed after surgery and your doctor just recommended
that you should go to a skilled nursing facility for rehabilitation. You are unfamiliar
with the whole process of being transferred from a hospital to a skilled
nursing facility. In fact, this was not a part of your plan at all.
After your doctor
leaves your room, the hospital discharge planner enters and introduces themself.
They state to you that they will work on getting you transferred to a skilled
nursing facility which happens to be in Toledo, even though you live close to
Bowling Green. This again catches you off guard as you were not prepared for
that recommendation.
The discharge
planner leaves your room and reenters it fifteen minutes later. They explain to
you that they have you all set up to go to ABC Skilled Nursing Center in
Toledo. You know nothing about this place and you really don’t want to go to a facility
in Toledo. Instead of saying anything to
the discharge planner, you trust that they know what they are doing and you
just go with it.
That same day,
you leave the hospital and are admitted to ABC Skilled Nursing Center for
rehabilitation.
Stories like the
one above do occur from time-to-time. You
may be thinking that you will never end up in this situation and that this
article doesn’t pertain to you. However, even if you and your doctor planned
for you to go home after surgery, your recovery may be slower than expected. As
a result, you may need to be transferred to a skilled nursing facility. How
much say do you have in choosing what skilled nursing facility to be
transferred to? The answer is…100%.
When you are in a
hospital and the discharge planner at the hospital speaks with you about being
discharged to a skilled nursing facility, you can tell them that you want to go
to whatever facility you want to go to, and the hospital’s discharge planner should
oblige.
It is important for
you to choose the location you want and not the hospital. For instance, you
want to choose a facility that provides the care you will need, is located
where it makes sense for you and your family and one that accepts your
insurance. So how do you choose a
facility? By doing research, asking around, or maybe scheduling a tour. You may also contact the WCCOA for a list of Wood County facilities.
Remember that you
always have a choice when it comes to your care.
This article was
written by Brooke Harrison, Administrator at Bowling Green Manor, and Jeff
Orlowski, Administrator at Wood Haven Health Care
