The best part of serving our patients is helping them to heal and return to everyday life. Sometimes that can mean additional care beyond the hospital setting. This is when post-acute care becomes critical to the recovery process.
What is Post-Acute Care?
Post-acute care refers to the care services you may receive when transitioning from a hospital stay. Not all people need additional services; some will need only follow-up with their primary care physicians. Post-acute care may be recommended after hospitalization for a serious medical condition, complex problem, or serious/traumatic injury where more long-term follow-up is necessary.
Where Do We Provide Care?
Post-acute care services may be provided by:
- Home Health Agencies
- Skilled Nursing Facilities (services can be provided by freestanding skilled facilities or by smaller, community-based hospitals)
- Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
Home Health Agencies (In-home Care)
The thought of finishing recovery from home might be comforting. However, it can also be a little worrisome if you’re not quite ready to care for yourself fully.
With our home health services, someone will visit you for a set period of time to examine wounds, administer antibiotics through an IV, or check your vital signs and weight. We also recommend checking in with your current primary care provider a week after returning home.
In-home services are important in your recovery. Doing so can prevent you from being readmitted to the hospital, and keep you in the comfort of your own home. At Stormont Vail we have partnered with many home health agencies in the area some of which are considered our “preferred partners.” The case management team can explore options with you during your hospitalization.
Skilled Nursing Facilities
When you go to a skilled nursing facility, our goal is to help you move toward recovery so you can return home. We aim to provide short-term rehabilitative care, intended to allow you to return to an optimal level of independence.
At a skilled nursing facility, you will receive around-the-clock care from nurses who help with everything from taking care of personal hygiene to making sure you’re taking the right medication. You may also continue recovery by working with a physical, occupational, or speech therapist. Skilled nursing facilities work with patients to provide rehabilitation for serious or complex medical conditions, surgeries, or physical injuries.
Once you return home from a skilled nursing facility, make sure to schedule a follow-up appointment with your primary care provider. It is very important that you see your family physician or internal medicine provider for your everyday health needs, such as annual physicals or treatment for illnesses or common health conditions. It’s important to keep your entire body healthy so that it’s strong enough to continue post-hospital recovery.
At Stormont Vail, we have partnered with Skilled Nursing Facilities in the area, some of which are considered our “preferred partners.” The case management team can explore options with you during your hospitalization.
Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
Inpatient rehabilitation facilities are similar to skilled nursing facilities. However, there are some differences. For example:
- Generally, at an inpatient rehabilitation facility, you’ll have daily visits with a physiatrist—a physician who specializes in medical conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord, nerves, bones, joints, ligaments, muscles, and tendons. At a skilled nursing facility, you’ll see a geriatrician, internist, or family practitioner several times per week.
- At an inpatient rehabilitation facility, your daily physical therapy sessions might last longer than they do at a skilled nursing facility (one to two hours). You must be able to tolerate at least three hours of therapy a day.
- You’ll get longer stretches of nursing care at an IRF—about five hours a day, compared to about three hours per day at an SNF.
- Typically, your stay an an inpatient rehabilitation facility will be shorter (10 to 35 days) than it will be a skilled nursing facility (24 to 60 days). However, every patient is unique. Your treatment time might be longer or shorter at either type of facility, depending on the plan your care team develops for you.
At Stormont Vail Health, we’ve partnered with the Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital to make sure that you get the best inpatient rehabilitation. The Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital provides physical, occupational and speech therapy services to patients who have had:
- Strokes
- Brain injuries
- Major multiple traumas
- Hip fractures or joint replacements
- Cardiac conditions, such as heart failure, heart attacks, or cardiac surgery
- Respiratory failure, such as pneumonia or chronic inflammatory lung disease (COPD)
- Wound care
- Amputations
- Work-related accidents
- A need for post-surgical recovery
- Serious illness
The hospital also offers a NeuroRecovery program, which is designed to restore motor function. You may be a candidate for this program if you have:
- Paralysis
- A walking disorder
- Trouble swallowing
- Brain dysfunction due to stroke, brain or spinal cord injury
- Multiple sclerosis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Post-polio syndrome
- Muscular dystrophies
- Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Nerve damage
Once you return home from an inpatient rehabilitation facility, make sure to schedule a follow-up appointment with your primary care provider. It is very important that you see your family physician or internal medicine provider for your everyday health needs, such as annual physicals or treatment for illnesses or common health conditions. It’s important to keep your entire body healthy so that it’s strong enough to continue post-hospital recovery. Although the goal is still to get you home, some patients do get transferred from the Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital into a long-term care facility.
The case management team can help make arrangements for your stay at Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital during your hospitalization.
Meet Our Post-Acute Care Providers
Think of the post-acute care team as an extension of your hospital care team.
