Skilled Nursing
We want to help our patients get well and return to their home or a home-like setting.
Skilled Nursing
After an illness, stroke, injury or surgery, a patient may be getting better but still needs some additional skilled care before returning to a home environment.
Skilled nursing is a level of hospitalization care for patients who require certain services. Skilled nursing services (Swing Beds) are extremely beneficial when a patient is ready to leave the acute care level of a hospital stay, but is not yet well enough to return home.
At MercyOne New Hampton, skilled nursing patients are cared for in the Acute Care wing of the hospital by our staff of health care professionals.
A Discharge Planner from another facility will assist in transferring a patient to MercyOne New Hampton for skilled nursing services or, in some cases, a patient may stay in the same hospital bed moving from one level of care to another.
Skilled nursing patients at MercyOne receive our high quality of care, with better staff to patient ratios than larger facilities and patients can recover while they are closer to families, friends and loved ones.
Services
Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance all have their own guidelines regarding skilled nursing care. This makes it important to define a patient’s needs and make sure they are receiving the appropriate level of care to qualify for the appropriate coverage.
Skilled nursing services may include, but are not limited to:
- Rehabilitation services such as that following strokes and joint replacements (may include physical, occupational and speech therapies)
- Frequent laboratory monitoring
- IV medications or medications requiring monitoring by professional staff
- Tube feedings and nutritional stabilization
- Wound management/sterile dressing changes
- Qualifying bowel and bladder care
- Respiratory therapy for qualifying procedures
- Care of decubitus ulcers
- Instructions in ostomy or stoma care
- Terminal care for patients needing pain control or skilled supportive care.
Admission Criteria
Medicare’s qualifications for admission to skilled nursing include:
- Three-day (consecutive) acute level of care stay within the past 30 days
- Physician referral for necessary daily skilled service related to hospitalization
- Medicare Part A (Hospital) Benefit or available days remaining in current benefit period.
Swing Bed Self Pay
Swing Bed Self Pay services are available if justification for acute/skilled level of care is not met and the patient wishes to remain within the hospital on a private-pay basis.
All private-pay charges will be paid on a seven day basis to prevent any misunderstanding of long-term accumulated charges.
More detailed information regarding Swing Bed Self Pay charges that are most frequently incurred is available upon request.
Who Needs Skilled Nursing Services?
Mercy has the advantage of offering individualized, convenient care with a personal touch.
Patients often choose skilled nursing/ swing bed services at MercyOne because they can be closer to home and more convenient for the family and friends involved in their care.
Types of patients that are candidates for Skilled Nursing/Swing Bed include, but are not limited to:
- Joint replacements or other orthopedic surgery patients needing frequent physical therapy.
- Stroke patients who need to improve their level of functioning with continued therapy.
- Cardiac patients needing skilled activity programs following a heart attack or acute episode of congestive heart failure.
- Patients requiring wound management/ sterile dressing changes
- Patients with long-term illnesses such as cancer or immune deficiency disease.
For more information on Swing Bed, Skilled Nursing, or Self Pay Care at MercyOne, contact us at 641-394-4121.
