Hospital Preparation
Before hospitalization, find out if your insurance covers everything.
While in the hospital
Medicare requirement for in-patient admission to a Rehabilitation facility
- Check before hospitalization that the MD Hospitalist, Anesthesiologist & the hospital are not out of network as your insurance won’t cover it.
While in the hospital
- Most hospitals have a Patient Care Representative whose role is to handle any patient problems that occur during hospitalization. Ask for this person’s name and number in case the CAN member needs it.
- CaringBridge (https//www.caringbridge.org) is a free patient website that helps family and friends share information during a significant health challenge. Patient updates are posted by the patient/family and friends leave supporting messages.
Medicare requirement for in-patient admission to a Rehabilitation facility
- Medicare has a 3-day rule requiring that the patient have a medically necessary inpatient hospital stay of at least 3 consecutive days before they will cover in-patient admission to a Rehabilitation unit. Those 3 days do NOT include the discharge day or pre-admission time spent in the emergency room (ER) or outpatient observation unit.