Don’t Travel to Get the Care You Need
Swing Bed services at UCGH allow you to rehabilitate close to home.
You may have never heard of the Swing Bed program before. Swing bed programs were established for rural hospitals to use excess beds and to provide the opportunity for you or a loved one to get the care needed in their home area. Why transfer hours away from family and friends for the care you need when UCGH will and can take care of you close to home, allowing for increased family involvement for support and training.
What is Swing Bed?
Swing Bed is a service that some rural hospitals are authorized by CMS (Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services) to offer. The program allows the hospital to provide medical services by skilled medical staff after hospitalization. This means that patients do not need to transfer from their hospital stay to a rehab facility far from their loved ones once a more aggressive treatment plan is no longer needed.
UCGH’s Swing Bed services include physical therapy, IV therapy, wound care, nutritional support, and more. In the program, you or your loved one will be treated with respect and consideration by all involved with their care, which may include staff from several departments depending on what is needed. Keeping all care “in house” provides a much more efficient, personal, and quicker recovery.
Who Is Eligible?
Care through the swing bed program is available after a three-midnight stay at an acute care hospital and a physician order for skilled services to qualify to transfer to the UCGH swing bed program. A patient must require ongoing care (wound care, IV therapy or daily injections, strengthening, etc) to meet the requirements for skilled services.
Patients may transfer from any hospital to UCGH to complete the necessary care that cannot be easily provided in their home.
While this program does require compliance with Medicare (CMS) guidelines, commercial insurances are also accepted. To remain eligible for the swing bed program, the patient must be participating and making progress toward goals and recovery.
UCGH provides Swing Bed services to keep you comfortable, as well as an opportunity to build strength and meet all goals to assure a safe and sustainable return to home while keeping you close to family and friends. Discuss this option with your healthcare provider if you or a loved one needs these services. Let your family and friends that UCGH is ready and able to provide these services safely and effectively while taking care of them close to home.