Last week my mom was admitted to the hospital with a perforated bowel and sepsis. She lives in Brooklyn, NY by herself and I live in Northern Virginia. She had surgery to repair her intestine and treat the sepsis. She is on Medicare and I would like to transfer her to a hospital in Northern Virginia to continue her care. She is currently admitted to Mount Sinani in Brooklyn, NY. I am very new to this and I don't know where to start. Does anyone have any advice or resources?
This will be expensive. This will probably not be covered by any insurance unless there is a valid medical reason.
The thing that might be easier to do is wait until she is well enough to travel and you can rent a van if needed to bring her where you want her.
There are lots of options that I saw when I googled it. The cost varies and one site did mention that insurance might cover if it is a medical necessity
I would verify that her insurance will follow her. If she just has Medicare, there are services that are not covered. She would need to have supplemental policies for all of her services to be covered and Medicare Advantage plans do not cross county lines, unless vacationing and you have an emergency. This might be your 1st step, because nothing else will matter if her insurance says no.
I have found that it is really hard to find a doctor or hospital that wants to take responsibility for a surgical patient, some kind of professional CYA in my opinion.
Please let us know what happens, your experience may be very different and it is helpful to know the variables. Good luck and thank you.
I would have concerns though as to locating medical personnel in your area who are willing to accept a new patient with serious recent operations, as well as the sepsis. And I'd also be very concerned about traveling before an acceptable level of stabilization has been reached.
This is where a discharge planner might come in, if he/she is wiling and has the time, to help locate either a hospital or rehab or other facility where she can heal under 24/7 medical supervision before coming to live with you.
When my parents were Winter Texans, I did a lot of investigation to line up resources in the event something happened, which it did, but no surgery was involved. My father developed pneumonia, but declined hospitalization b/c my mother would be alone in their trailer, although she did have support from their Winter Texan friends.
We decided to bring them home. Ground transit was too long; dedicated air support was out of our financial reach. My brother got tickets through his employment, so we did save some money.
Then I flew to Texas, stayed a few days while observing and confirming that bringing them home was wise (we'd been through the pneumonia bouts before), then returning, after consulting the airline for specific requirements.
I also lined up appointments with Dad's regularly treating physicians so I could bring him in quickly after return. My sister (RN) took time off from work to care for them; I handled the limited medical appointments, we both shared cooking and care, and kind of converted her home to a recovery unit.
To say that the return trip home was traumatic for all is an understatement. We were fortunate to find a great, supporting staff at American Airlines. Without them, we would have missed our connection home and been stuck at the airport in Dallas, probably having to return to the trailer and come back for the next flight.
So if you do get concurrence that the trip is feasible, work out everything, and I mean everything, in advance.