Just curious because this question comes up often. I also got this question a lot when I was secretary for a Visiting Nurse Assoc. I live in South Jersey. When a person is hospitalized and needs rehab the Hospital handles it. They have a special employee that calls around to see where beds are available and then gives the patient or family members a choice. At no time have I had to call around asking if an opening is available. Homecare I picked which one I preferred, but the hospital called the service and sent them the doctor order. Then Homecare calls me to set up a day to admit my Mom. As a secretary I got lots of calls from family members freaking out because they thought the responsibility would be theirs. I explained that a Social Worker would contact them with how discharge will be handled. As a VNA facility we did nothing until we had a doctors order in hand from the hospital. Isn't this how all hospitals work?
Thank you for agreeing with me Myownlife.
The hospital can't discharge anyone to a nursing home without their permission. Or, if the person isn't capable, the permission of whoever holds durable power of attorney. They might want her to go to a rehab unit or a skilled facility for physical therapy following a fall, but that should be a short term admission. If she prefers not to do that, home health care can have nurses or physical therapists go to her home probably 2-3 days a week for PT. So long as she has a "skilled" service coming to her home she can also have a home health aide who can help with bathing, dressing, etc. All this is covered under Medicare!!
I have to say what happens to the parents who just go home after any hospital stay and THEY LIVE ALONE. They are already in a weakened state from being bedridden, it's going to take a while to get their strength back, who is doing meal prep?, med minder?, and then comes along a fall.