My mom has COPD and Emphysema she is 78 years old. About once yearly past two years she needs to go to hospital for oxygen, steroids, and Bipap them go to a rehab for two weeks. The doctor told us there was a bed for my mom at the rehab she went last time which is near the hospital. The social worker called to say there's no be and won't be for a few weeks. After further inquiry it was insinuated that the rehab is refusing to take her. My mom is a very nice person she dies not yell scream or hit anyone but she does have phobias to medications and as she gets better and stronger she will refuse certain things. Is that enough for a rehab to black ball her from the facility? This is awful as the others are so far away and my brother and I don't drive and live far away last time we had to spend over $1,000 in cans and hotel just to see her in the rehab. Now we are trying to get her back to the close one and they are refusing to take her and won't clarify why? What are our rights? Her insurance is great so we know that is not the problem.
I think in your place I would call the rehab directly and ask to speak to their social worker or the person in charge of admissions and try to get a more complete answer.
However, it is her responsibility to help find a place.
In one situation, 2 discharge planners (at different times) suggested a facility which I learned form an ombudsperson agency was very badly rated, that that many people who went in came out in body bags. I didn't consider that an overstatement.
Our solution is to keep going up the ladder to the top and demand answers. It usually works.
Remember if there is no other competition they can pretty much do as they please.
It sounds like the underlying issue is that she needs a higher level of care; someplace where her oxygen use can be monitored and encouaged. Try to see the big picture here.
Is your mother oxygen-dependent at home? Why did she refuse to "take oxygen home with her"? (I find this statement strange because rehab facilities don't send people home with oxygen---oxygen is usually delivered by a home medical supply service.) Why does your mother require one hospital stay every year? Does she get pneumonia or an exacerbation of COPD? Perhaps she needs better control of her COPD in the form of steroids, a bi-pap machine & oxygen
at home to prevent a hospital admission. You should inquire about it with her doctor.
Legally, people can refuse anything they want and nobody can force anything on them. People are non-compliant all the time, for one reason or another.
One thing I do know is that there are strict limits on payment by Medicare & secondary insurance when there is a re-admission for the same thing within a certain amount of time. Hospitals & rehabs will not get paid for a re-admission for the same problem. Therefore, doctors try everything in their power to avoid re-admitting patients with the same diagnosis so they & the facility will be paid.
Everything boils down to money, in healthcare and everywhere else. Morals & ethics don't matter. Doing the right things doesn't matter. It's all about which insurance is going to pay the most for the stay. It shouldn't be that way, but it is. Rehab facilities and LTC do not want to take patients on a lot of medications---especially brand name, expensive medications---and they want patients that need the least amount of care, so that they spend the least amount of money & collect the most amount of money. It's called a "wallet biopsy". That's how rehabs & LTC places function.
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