Colorado Springs Senior AdvisorWhat is short-term rehab in a Colorado Springs nursing home?
A stay of days or weeks in a Medicare-certified skilled nursing facility after a hospital admission, for therapy and nursing that help a person recover enough to go home or to assisted living; Medicare covers it after a qualifying three-day inpatient stay.
Hospitals such as UCHealth Memorial and Penrose discharge many patients straight to rehab. The goal is a safe discharge, and therapy is the main event: ask how many hours of physical and occupational therapy a day the home typically provides, and whether therapy continues on weekends.
When does short-term rehab turn into long-term care?
When the person stops improving or no longer needs daily skilled care, Medicare coverage ends, and if they still cannot go home safely the stay becomes long-term custodial care paid privately or by Health First Colorado.
Medicare must give written notice before coverage ends, and you can appeal through the quality improvement organization named on the notice. Use the days of coverage to plan: get the Health First Colorado application started if it may be needed, and tour assisted living options in case a lower level of care will do.
Should we choose the same nursing home for rehab and for long-term care?
Not necessarily. Homes that focus on rehab do well with short stays and many admissions, while a long-term resident may do better in a smaller home closer to family with stable staff; compare CMS's short-stay and long-stay quality measures.
Our nursing home pages show CMS's overall, health inspection, staffing and quality star ratings, nurse staffing hours and turnover for each home in El Paso and Teller counties. Ask whether a resident who converts from Medicare rehab to Medicaid long-term care keeps the same room.
What should we bring to a Colorado Springs rehab stay?
Comfortable clothes and shoes for therapy, glasses, hearing aids and chargers, a list of medications and doctors, the powers of attorney, and something familiar for the room; label everything.
Ask on day one when the first care conference will be and who the social worker is. Families who come to that meeting with questions about discharge get a better plan.
Side by side
| Short-term rehab | Long-term care | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Recovery and discharge | Ongoing daily care |
| Payer | Medicare (and TRICARE For Life for coinsurance) | Private funds or Health First Colorado |
| Length | Days to weeks, up to 100 covered days | Months to years |
| What to compare | Therapy hours and short-stay measures | Staffing stability and long-stay measures |
Drawn from 6 CCR 1011-1 Chapter 7, CDPHE and HCPF publications, CareScout, CMS, the VA and the Pikes Peak Area Agency on Aging; our editorial standards explain how we check them.
