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My brother's wife is demented and was placed in a memory care facility. When she fell and broke her pelvis, she was transferred to a rehab facility. He plans to take her back to the same memory care facility when she has recovered enough. I am wondering if they do hold beds at all. What happens if her bed was given to another, and there are no beds left? Would Medicare pay for the bed while it is on hold, waiting for her return?

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I doubt that Medicare would be paying for a bed in MC at all. Is she self pay or on Medicaid? If Medicaid, I'm sorry I don't know the rules. I guess there are rules about how many days the gov't funds would pay for. How long will she be in rehab? Maybe hubby should call MC and find out the scoop. I bet they know or could find out. Good luck.
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It is long term insurance funded by the Illinois State Fund for teachers.
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jar3431 Feb 2023
Check the LTC coverage contract. Mine specifies 14 days per hospitalization.

I could speculate that if the memory care is paid by the month rather than by day, they wouldn't charge a separate fee for holding a bed that has already been rented for the full month. So check the memory care contract as well.
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Every MC facility is a business unto itself. Often you are given the rules and regulations upon the person going in, a contract; read that if you have it. Otherwise call your facility and ask. There is no way we could know the answer to that facility and there are no rules that are universal dictating what a private business does about this circumstance. Sure do wish you the best of luck in this.
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If you keep paying the rent, they'll usually hold the bed. Most places will give a discount while the person isn't there, because they aren't using the food service or needing care, so it should be a lower rent. Folks are in and out of hospitals and rehab all the time.

However, most places will have a limit on how long they'll hond a room. If someone's in rehab for months or their return looks iffy, they may say no after a certain time.
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Yes, but you have to continue to pay the bill.
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My dad's bed was given away when he got sent to the hospital without anyone notifying us or him. He wasn't in memory care but long term nursing and the place was also a rehab. It was so stressful.
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Depends on a number of things. How is her care being paid for now and what if any "bed hold" benefit exists. And as others have said, it may also depend regardless on the coverage, what paperwork/contract terms were signed upon her admission to the memory care facility.

Medicare does not pay for long term care, therefore does not come into play here. Medicaid may cover for a limited time (is she also has Medicaid long term care coverage in addition to her "teacher's long term coverage" one may "wrap around the other," so check with her "teacher's coverage" and also find out if there is any Medicaid coverage at play, then check with your specific State Medicaid long term care program.

Of course, most facilities will allow a private bed hold pay for a specified number of days. That is typically outlined in the paperwork signed (the contract) when she was admitted. If the box "will you pay for a private bed hold" (or similar language was NOT check in that original paperwork) it may be worth contacting the business office of that facility to work out a private pay bed hold now.

Most facilities will only allow a limited number of bed hold days. Where we are, our State Medicaid program has a bed hold for an only few days. My mom's facility allows a 45 private pay bed hold, at $480 per day (or for about $22K if we had to do that for the full 45 days). Thankfully, there has been no need.

Good luck with this.
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That is a facility specific question.
Confer with the administration in the facility.
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Who pays for her care has nothing to do with this. Medicare never pays for a bed outside of Rehab and thats only for 20 days and after that 50% up to 100 days. Medicaid would not be involved because they rarely pay for ALs or MC unless have paid privately for a period of time like 2 yrs. Few have AL vouchers.

Read the MC contract. For my Mom she paid her room and board and care for two weeks when she was in Rehab. After that, the care part of her monthly cost was dropped. How long they would have held her room I have no idea. She was released from Rehab after 18 days.

If Long-term care insurance is paying for her MC, you need to find out how long they will cover her if she is not living at the MC for a period of time.
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We had to pay for the MC bed to hold it, for the month Dad was in rehab. Medicare paid for rehab.
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Ask the facility.
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When my husband was in rehab for one month, I paid for his room at his memory care. His memory care did not charge me for his care during his rehab stay; however, they did charge me for his room. Memory care lodging costs are similar to hotel stays or apartment rentals. In those situations, you continue to pay for the room or suite even when you go on vacation for a month or two months.
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Sorry about what happened to your brother's wife. While I cannot answer this question, please read what our forum suggests.
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My understanding is that Medicare will not pay for treatment or bed costs at two places at once. Most likely there will be an out of pocket charge for holding the bed.
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Each state has a law in that facilities need to notify you both verbally & written if they are discharging a resident. First check your contract, check with the facility, also the insurance representative whether it is private or Medicare. You can also call your state Ombudsman. This information should have been given to you upon signing the contract.
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Probably not. Medicare won't pay for her to have 2 beds - one at rehab and one at the MC. Would not be feasible for Medicare to do that. Brother should talk to facility to find out when they will remove her name on the census list. More than likely, they are going to contact him so he can retrieve her things. If you let them know she plans to return, that might help. However, someone comes along to fill the bed, doubt the facility would turn them down.

Might be worth it, if you like the place, to self pay for the time she's away.
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Mom was in MC, went to hospital, then SNF, with hopes of being well enough to return to MC. We had to private pay for her MC room during her hospital/SNF stay, in order to hold her room..Prayers to your brother, his wife & you..A tough journey we all know too well.🙏🏻❤️
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Medicare does not pay for Memory care, Assisted Living or Long-term care, only Rehab. So Medicare has nothing to do with her Memory Care bed only her Rehab. Memory care is private pay, rarely does Medicaid pay for it unless u have lived there for maybe a period of at least 2 yrs.

Just read the Memory Care contract and the Long-term care contract. I agree that as long as she is paying for her MC room, it will be held. That does not mean the LTC contract will. They may require she needs to be living there or only so many days that they will pay without her living there.
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kahill1918: Perhaps you should ask the memory care facility.
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Most memory care facilities will hold the bed as long as you continue to pay for it; however, you should check directly with the memory care facility to confirm this. There may be a maximum number of days that they will be able to hold it, even if you do pay for it. Most memory care facilities are private pay, and will continue to be able to accept only private pay for a bed, even if the patient is in a rehab center. You may also wish to ask the rehab center if the rehab could be undertaken instead at the memory care facility somehow.
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