Health and Disability

The first time you manage your caree’s hospital discharge you realize how chaotic and disorganized the health care system can be. The discharge process can be fraught with last-minute changes, too little information that arrives too late, and health care professionals who seem to have exactly 30 seconds to answer your questions.

To help you manage the chaos, we’ve put together tips to help restore some order when your caree is being discharged from the hospital to home:

1. Start the discharge process as soon as possible.
You’ll want to start preparing for discharge almost immediately after your caree’s admission. You may only learn of a discharge date the day before or even the day off the actual discharge. Know that whether or not your caree’s insurance, including Medicare, will continue to pay will trigger the discharge. And, sometimes, that trigger will happen the night before the day the discharge planner calls to say, “We’re discharging your mom this morning.”

Keep in mind that the goal of the discharge planning process is to identify and prepare for your caree’s anticipated health care needs once he returns home.