Patients experiencing prolonged hospital stays due to COVID-19 and related complications often require continued care in an intensive care unit (ICU), inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) and/or long-term acute care hospital (LTACH).

An American Hospital Association case study recently looked into how partnerships with post-acute care settings are continuing to positively impact the healthcare industry’s response to COVID-19.

“Inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and long-term care hospitals are key partners for general acute-care hospitals discharging patients with, and recovering from, COVID-19. In particular, as communities and hospitals struggled to meet ICU capacity needs, these hospitals stepped forward to take care of COVID-19-positive patients and others to help provide beds for more COVID-19-positive patients,” the case study noted.

The study looked at one Kindred hospital, Kindred Hospital Clear Lake, outlining how the care management strategy began to relieve area general acute-care hospital partners by accepting their non-COVID patients, but grew to encompass much more. This hospital, along with many other Kindred LTACHs and IRFs, expanded services to take care of recovering patients who no longer demonstrated symptoms of the virus but were being impacted by a multitude of long-lasting side effects.

Further, with waivers recently implemented to expand the use of IRFs and LTACHs to treat patients who had COVID-19, inpatient rehabilitation and LTAC hospitals are uniquely equipped to take sicker patients who have advanced and complex needs. LTAC hospitals deliver care for the most difficult-to-treat, critically ill and medically complex patients – such as patients with respiratory failure, septicemia, traumatic injuries, wounds or other severe illnesses complicated by multiple chronic conditions, many of which are symptoms of post-COVID recovery. Read our latest white paper, “How LTAC Hospitals Help Post-COVID Patients” to learn more.

Read the full case study