What To Do After You’re Discharged from a Hospital

If you or someone you know has been admitted to a hospital due to an injury or illness, sometimes you’re eligible for rehabilitation after being discharged. Before you’re discharged the hospital’s social worker/discharge planner will discuss two options; one being the opportunity to stay at a short-term rehabilitation or go home and use home health. You may ask, what is the difference between the two? Also, why would anyone choose not to go home and use services in the home versus staying temporarily at another medical center?

Here is a brief list of the difference between home health and short-term rehabilitation:

  1. Home health comes into your home and provides therapy and nursing care. The service bills your insurance. You may or may not have out-of-pocket cost. Ask the hospital’s social worker (SW) to assist you with which ones to use, and if your insurance covers the cost.
  2. Therapy is provided only up to 3 times a week.
  3. Short-term rehabilitations consist of in-patient stay. Most of them provide a private room with a private bathroom. Your meals are included as well as 24-7 nursing care and up to 5 days of therapy.  
  4. Short-term rehabs bill your insurance. The hospital SW will ask you to select a few rehabs from a list. He/she will find out which rehabs accept your insurance, and if there will be any out-of-pocket costs.
  5. In rehabs you have up to 100 days of in-patient care. This necessarily does not mean your insurance will cover all those days or need that many days. It depends on your insurance and the documentation from therapy/nursing.
  6. If you have the standard Medicare insurance, it covers days 1-20 at 100%. On day 21-100, Medicare only covers 80%, which 20% will need to be paid out-of-pocket or your supplemental insurance will cover. If you have a supplemental insurance, it usually covers the remaining days 21-100.
    • Medicare allows the rehab to dictate how many days are needed.
  7. Medicare Replacement Plans (i.e. Humana) dictate how long you will be able to stay in the rehab; they do NOT listen to the therapy/nursing team. Most of the time these plans only pay up to 20 days, and stop coverage on day 21, which leaves the patient having to discharge early or pay out-of-pocket.
    • Therefore, the monthly premiums for Medicare Replacement Plans are cheap.