Will Medicare pay for extended stays in a nursing home?
Many people believe that Medicare covers nursing home stays. In fact Medicare’s coverage of nursing home care is quite limited. Medicare covers up to 100 days of “skilled nursing care” per illness, but there are a number of requirements that must be met before the nursing home stay will be covered. The result of these requirements is that Medicare recipients are often discharged from a nursing home before they are ready. In order for a nursing home stay to be covered by Medicare, you must enter a Medicare-approved “skilled nursing facility” or nursing home within 30 days of a hospital stay that lasted at least three days. The care in the nursing home must be for the same condition as the hospital stay. In addition, you must need “skilled care.” This means a physician must order the treatment and the treatment must be provided daily by a registered nurse, physical therapist, or licensed practical nurse. Finally, Medicare only covers “acute” care as opposed to custodial care. This means
Here is a link to a pamphlet with lots of info that may answer many of your questions: http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pub… Or, take a look here: http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pub… As long as the patient has a 3 day qualifying stay in an acute (inpatient) hospital, and the patient has skilled care or rehab needs, medicare will pay for 100 days of skilled nursing care in a benefit period. A benefit period is a period of time between your first day admitted to a facility and the day you are discharged from a covered level of care. Once you are out of an acute facility and/or SNF (skilled nursing facility) for 60 days, the benefit renews and can begin again.
