There are two types of hospital beds for LTC care. Sometimes when patient is ready to be discharged to ltc, there is no available ltc bed. A hospital may continue to provide care for patients who are approved for LTC, pending discharge to a facility. This care is provided in an inappropriate level of care bed or swing bed. Verify the patient's level of care when you receive an FL-2 to be sure the recommended level of care is for ltc.
All hospitals have inappropriate level of care beds.
During these three days, the hospital may continue to bill at the acute level. On the 4th day after the level of care changes, the hospital must bill at the inappropriate level of care if they have not been able to move the patient to a nursing facility. Swing beds are hospital beds that have been certified as nursing home level beds. Not all hospitals have swing beds. A swing bed must be certified as such by Medicare.