Long term acute care hospitals (LTACH) provide intense treatment for patients who need at least 25 days of stay in a hospital. Long term acute care hospitals can be one of two types: a hospital within a hospital (HWH) or a standalone facility. There are approximately 400 LTACHs nationwide. It used to be that the only patients you would find in a long term acute care hospital were ventilator dependent patients. Not so, anymore. These highly specialized hospitals also offer a quality care environment for wound care, ulcers, renal failure and respiratory distress patients such as those with COPD and pneumonia.
LTACHs are committed to provide:
- Physicians who are actively reviewing patient progress daily and are available on site.
- Consulting physicians who can respond to individual patient care needs to enhance the care process, especially important with patients with many co-morbidities.
- A comprehensive integrated patient review process that provides for screening patients continuously (pre admission and throughout stay) for appropriateness of stay in long term acute care environment.
- Interdisciplinary teams to collaborate and carry out the treatment plans for each patient. These teams consist of different health care providers such as physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc.
When should a long term acute care hospital be considered?
Physicians typically consider transferring a patient from a short term to a long term acute care hospital when the patient doesn’t respond to treatment as expected. Common patient types transferred to long term hospitals include those:
- Who require ventilator treatment and need to be weaned from being ventilator dependent.
- With multiple admissions to hospitals with respiratory failure or COPD
- With new tracheostomy post open heart or other surgery
- With complex medical problems that result in frequent hospitalization
Regular, short term hospitals are the main admission sources for patients needing long term acute care. That means your physician will likely recommend one or two LTACHs if one is required. However, you still have a choice. We suggest you do your research before you accept his or her recommendation. Take the following factors into consideration before choosing a long term acute care hospital:
1. Location: Make sure the LTACH is close enough for loved ones to be able to visit frequently. Studies show that family involvement in hospitalizations prevents medical errors and assists in patient recovery.
2. Quality: Quality is often overlooked but extremely important. WhereToFindCare.com is the only place that gives you a quality score to assist you in choosing a long term acute care hospital: the consumer quality score.
The consumer quality score is the percentage of people who rated their long term acute care hospital on WhereToFindCare.com and said they received quality care. This experience-based long term acute care hospital satisfaction score cannot be found elsewhere today except by word of mouth.
Have you had experiences with long term acute care hospitals in your area? Share your experiences with other users by
rating the long term acute care hospitals on WhereToFindCare.com. Your feedback is invaluable to others in your community searching for long term acute care hospitals.
3. Recommendations: Word of mouth recommendations can tell us whether we can get along with providers on a personal level. Ask friends, family, and other associates if they have had experiences with the long term acute care hospitals on your list. You can also find word of mouth recommendations on WhereToFindCare.com.
4. Consider what each long term acute care hospital offers: Once you’ve narrowed down your list, you should consider all the other things each long term acute care hospital has to offer. In your search results, click on the name of a long term acute care hospital to see more information such as photos, video tours, amenities, description of available services, insurance accepted, contact information, beds, and much more.
Use the long term acute care hospital search tool above to locate long term acute care hospitals in your area. With the report generated, you can view quality information, word of mouth recommendations from people in your community, exceptional healthcare workers at long term acute care hospitals(we call them CareStars), photos, video tours, services provided, insurance accepted, contact information, driving directions, and much more.