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long-term acute care hospital (LTAC)
Indications:
- otherwise-stable respiratory patient who requires prolonged ventilator weaning
- skin infection, soft tissue infection, or joint infection
- central venous catheter
Epidemiology:
- fastest growing segment of postacute care in the U.S
Notes:
- higher intensity of care than SNF
- stepdown capability & higher nurse-to-patient ratios
- LTAC reimbursed at several-fold higher rate than SNF for same diagnosis
- strongest predictors LTAC vs SNF
- tracheostomy
- hospitalization within 2 miles of an LTAC
General
acute care hospital
References
- Winawer NH
Where Do Hospitalized Elders Go When They're Too Sick to Go Home?
NEJM Journal Watch. Feb 27, 2018
Massachusetts Medical Society
(subscription needed) http://www.jwatch.org
- Makam AN, Nguyen OK, Xuan L et al.
Factors associated with variation in long-term acute care
hospital vs skilled nursing facility use among hospitalized
older adults.
JAMA Intern Med 2017 Feb 5
PMID: 29404575