Nebraska hospitals struggling to transfer post-acute care patients

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Nebraska hospitals have confronted numerous hardships over the previous few years, and the newest is the wrestle to discharge and switch acute care sufferers to a extra applicable facility.

On Wednesday, the Nebraska Hospital Affiliation (NHA) launched their 2023 January Throughput Report, which highlighted the excessive variety of sufferers who’re wholesome sufficient to switch out of acute care services, however post-acute care services like nursing houses and rehab facilities don’t have the house.

Components for the restricted house embody the closures of 35 long-term care services and 27 assisted residing services throughout Nebraska since 2017.

The report additionally reveals 227 sufferers final month needed to keep of their acute care mattress whereas ready to be transferred for per week or extra, with 104 sufferers having to remain longer than a month.

“Each day 20% of our inpatients are in a delay or can’t discover placement,” stated Melinda Kentfield, Chief Nursing Government of Methodist Fremont Well being. “It additionally causes that full bottleneck of not with the ability to get these sufferers needing admission into these higher-acuity beds.”

The NHA is hoping a number of payments on this legislative session will go to provide extra funding and grants to post-acute care services.

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