What is an LTACH (pronounced l-tac)?
An LTACH is a long-term acute care hospital that provides medical treatment and rehabilitation for patients requiring intensive medical care for an extended period of time, generally 20 to 30 days. Typically, medically complex patients are referred to an LTACH when a patient at a short-term acute care hospital no longer needs intensive diagnostic services and has a treatment plan. Because of the complexity of the treatment provided, the patient still needs daily physician-directed care.
How are LTACHs different from short-term acute care hospitals or skilled nursing facilities?
Long term acute care hospitals offer programs that have been specially designed for patients requiring complex medical and rehabilitation services. Unlike a short-term acute care hospital, which focuses on stabilizing a patient’s medical condition, or a skilled nursing facility that is not equipped or staffed to provide an intensive level of care, LTACHs specialize in providing intensive medical and therapy services to patients with medically complex conditions.
What types of health care professionals care for patients in an LTACH?
A team of physicians, nurses, therapists, dietitians, and case managers cares for patients in LTACHs. Physicians on our medical staff are board certified in a variety of medical specialties, including critical care medicine, internal medicine, pulmonology and physiatry (physical medicine and rehabilitation). Patients have round-the-clock access to physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and other members of their treatment team.
What types of patients are appropriate for Gaylord’s LTACH Medically Complex Program?
While we care for patients with a wide range of medical issues, patients that may be eligible for admission include:
- Patients with multiple system failures
- Patients dependent on a ventilator who can be successfully weaned
- Patients in need of intensive wound care
- Patients too medically unstable for transfer to a skilled nursing facility
- Patients whose rehabilitation is compromised by acute medical issues
- Patients in the intensive care unit or on medical/surgical floors who have exceeded their length of stay and still require a high acuity level of care
What are the benefits of referring to a long-term acute care hospital?
LTACHs offer a combination of intensive medical and rehabilitative hospital services. The benefits to patients include briefer lengths of stay in the short-term acute care hospital, less patient recidivism and an increased rate of discharges home. LTACHs provide a safety net for the most vulnerable patients, assuring that a hospital level of care will be maintained when required. At the same time, LTACHs help short-term acute care hospitals realize financial and other operational benefits by permitting them to shorten their average lengths of stay and optimize patient access to emergency departments and intensive care units.
How do I refer a patient to Gaylord Hospital?
Gaylord accepts patient referrals from a variety of sources, including acute care hospital case managers and discharge planners, hospitalists, primary care physicians, specialists, and social workers. A patient or family member can also make a request to be admitted to Gaylord as part of a continuing care plan. Once a referral is made, we will work closely with you to coordinate the admissions process.
Admissions
Call the Gaylord Admissions Office at (203) 284-2810 to arrange for a Regional Health Care Manager to evaluate your patient. We will evaluate the patient within 1 day, often sooner. If clinically appropriate, it should take no more than 24 hours to have the patient admitted to Gaylord. We accept Medicare and most private insurances. Our Regional Health Care Managers are happy to answer any questions you may have about our services.
The chart below shows where an LTACH fits in the continuum of care.
