Update on My Mom (OT)

On Nov 6, 2:45*pm, Lorraine wrote:
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:59:08 -0800 (PST), Sherry
wrote:

Lori, I think part of the purpose of occupational therapy is to
maintain
upper body strength, and hand coordination in the event the patient is
confined to a wheelchair, even an electric one. Or at least that's
the
impression I got when Dad had it.

It's also a money maker for the facility. *Don't let them stretch it out
needlessly. *You might want to ask what are their specific goals. *It's
my understanding (and my understanding is shaky), that Medicare pays for
30 days, but that's like in a lifetime, year, or something. *Some rehab
facilities tend to take the entire 30 days if the days are available
regardless of whether the patient really needs all thirty.

We thought it was going to be an issue with Mom before we found out how
bad she really was at the time, but I was letting my sister handle all
of that since she works in a hospital billing department. That's why I
don't have more than a basic understanding.

L.

Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Sherry

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

The bad thing is visiting hours in this
unit don't start until 4PM! The nurse said she'll be in the gym or
working with a therapist during "normal" hours. Well this sucks. I
suffer from night blindness. I never drive at night.

Jill, do you wear glasses? My night vision used to totally suck and then I
found out it was really my vision in general. I had noticed that I couldn't
read overhead and street signs even during the day, and even license plates
on the cars ahead of me but I was in denial of vision problems until I
couldn't pass the eye test to get my license renewed. Now that I found out
my vision was impaired (never had been during my entire life until 2005 that
I knew of) my night vision is much better with glasses.

On Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:02:47 -0500, Cheryl wrote:

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

The bad thing is visiting hours in this
unit don't start until 4PM! The nurse said she'll be in the gym or
working with a therapist during "normal" hours. Well this sucks. I
suffer from night blindness. I never drive at night.

Jill, do you wear glasses? My night vision used to totally suck and
then I found out it was really my vision in general. I had noticed that
I couldn't read overhead and street signs even during the day, and even
license plates on the cars ahead of me but I was in denial of vision
problems until I couldn't pass the eye test to get my license renewed.
Now that I found out my vision was impaired (never had been during my
entire life until 2005 that I knew of) my night vision is much better
with glasses.

The problem that I had with night vision, prior to my cataract
operations, was that oncoming headlights tended to cause a general
fogging of my vision due to light-scattering (fortunately, the effect was
not severe). Now, post-surgery, I can see better at night than before.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 14:57:04 -0800 (PST), Sherry
wrote:

Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Of course, I didn't mean to pass up on needed therapy simply based on
cost. However, it would be prudent to make sure the money is spent
wisely when it is limited. We heard this from several directions when
Mom was ill including from the hospital social worker. However, since
Mom never made it to therapy of any kind, and didn't even get close
enough for us to get into the details, it definitely sounds like you
have had more experience than I in this area. I don't remember ever
hearing 100 days, so we may be talking about something different anyway.
That's not to say it wasn't thrown out there. Given it was probably the
most horrific month of my life, the details were lost on me.

Ignore me, Jill. I didn't mean to make things more complicated. Sending
you and your mother megapurrs hoping to make it all easier.

L.


--
L.
Pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/raineontheplain
Last updated 2007/02/04

Cheryl wrote:
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...

The bad thing is visiting hours in this
unit don't start until 4PM! The nurse said she'll be in the gym or
working with a therapist during "normal" hours. Well this sucks. I
suffer from night blindness. I never drive at night.

Jill, do you wear glasses?

I've been wearing glasses since I was 12 (Got braces at the same time,
don't think that didn't suck!) And my current prescription is fine, I just
had my eyes checked a few months ago. I understand they make special
glasses for night blindness but they aren't cheap.

Jill

Sherry wrote:
On Nov 6, 2:45 pm, Lorraine wrote:
On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:59:08 -0800 (PST), Sherry
wrote:

Lori, I think part of the purpose of occupational therapy is to
maintain
upper body strength, and hand coordination in the event the patient
is confined to a wheelchair, even an electric one. Or at least
that's the
impression I got when Dad had it.

It's also a money maker for the facility. Don't let them stretch it
out needlessly. You might want to ask what are their specific goals.
It's my understanding (and my understanding is shaky), that Medicare
pays for 30 days, but that's like in a lifetime, year, or something.

Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Sherry

A physical therapist was already coming into her home twice a week to work
with strength issues. And yes, Medicare and then her secondary carrier was
paying for it. Of course, that was before she broke her hip *while in the
hospital*.

She wasn't even hospitalized for a problem, the doctor sent her for some
inptatient tests. I'm regretting we ever ageed to that. I still can't
believe they didn't have a walker sitting by her bedside chair. They knew
she uses one at home.

I will *not* wait until 4PM to visit her. And I will be sitting down and
discussing her medical status and discharge planning. Her new physician had
reviewed her new lab work and cut her prescriptions back from nine to three.
He called them into a compounding pharmacy so she was taking liquid form,
not horse pills. In the hospital they've got her back up to nine
prescriptions (@ 18 pills a day!) and are wondering why the hell she won't
take them. I'm getting her out of there as soon as possible. Without it
being a detriment to her, of course.

Jill

On Nov 6, 5:57�pm, Sherry wrote:
On Nov 6, 2:45�pm, Lorraine wrote:





On Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:59:08 -0800 (PST), Sherry
wrote:

Lori, I think part of the purpose of occupational therapy is to
maintain
upper body strength, and hand coordination in the event the patient is
confined to a wheelchair, even an electric one. Or at least that's
the
impression I got when Dad had it.

It's also a money maker for the facility. �Don't let them stretch it out
needlessly. �You might want to ask what are their specific goals. �It's
my understanding (and my understanding is shaky), that Medicare pays for
30 days, but that's like in a lifetime, year, or something. �Some rehab
facilities tend to take the entire 30 days if the days are available
regardless of whether the patient really needs all thirty.

We thought it was going to be an issue with Mom before we found out how
bad she really was at the time, but I was letting my sister handle all
of that since she works in a hospital billing department. That's why I
don't have more than a basic understanding.

L.

Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Sherry- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You're correct Sherry, this is why most nursing homes have rehab
units. You get 100 or so days of rehab after a hospital stay. They get
a higher rate plus fees. The hospital might have a similar facility.
suz&Spicey

Suz wrote:
On Nov 6, 5:57�pm, Sherry wrote:
Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Sherry- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You're correct Sherry, this is why most nursing homes have rehab
units. You get 100 or so days of rehab after a hospital stay. They get
a higher rate plus fees. The hospital might have a similar facility.
suz&Spicey


Yes, she's still in the hospital in their rehab unit.

Jill

FWIW you should talk to the Doctor or, whomever is in charge of her case and
see what specific goals they have for her. If she is to be returned home,
you could ask to be there for her sessions so you could learn what to do to
help her.
"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Suz wrote:
On Nov 6, 5:57?pm, Sherry wrote:
Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd consider
how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing further
disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy very quickly.
IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either in the hospital,
or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the patient has 60 days
of wellness before being hospitalized again for a different problem,
the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure that
visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some degree by
Medicare.

Sherry- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You're correct Sherry, this is why most nursing homes have rehab
units. You get 100 or so days of rehab after a hospital stay. They get
a higher rate plus fees. The hospital might have a similar facility.
suz&Spicey


Yes, she's still in the hospital in their rehab unit.

Jill

Granby wrote:
FWIW you should talk to the Doctor or, whomever is in charge of her
case and see what specific goals they have for her. If she is to be
returned home, you could ask to be there for her sessions so you
could learn what to do to help her.


Of course I'll be talking with them. And I already had an in-home physical
therapist coming in twice a week having her do exercises to help with her
with overall strength even before she went into the hospital. I fully
intend to bring her back home.

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
Suz wrote:
On Nov 6, 5:57?pm, Sherry wrote:
Before I'd worry that the hospital is milking medicare, I'd
consider how important PT (or OT) is. It's all about *preventing
further disability* as much as anything else. Old folks atrophy
very quickly. IIRC, Medicare paid for 100 days of "rehab" (either
in the hospital, or in a skilled nursing unit). After that, if the
patient has 60 days of wellness before being hospitalized again
for a different problem, the 100 days starts over.
Then again, some patients recover much better at home. I am sure
that visiting home-health-care therapists are also paid to some
degree by Medicare.

Sherry- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You're correct Sherry, this is why most nursing homes have rehab
units. You get 100 or so days of rehab after a hospital stay. They
get a higher rate plus fees. The hospital might have a similar
facility. suz&Spicey


Yes, she's still in the hospital in their rehab unit.

Jill