Medicare Covers Nursing Care After a 3-Day Hospital Stay

Medicare Part A covers a patient's stay in a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility during recovery from an illness or injury -- but coverage kicks in only if he's first had a hospital stay of at least three days, not counting the day of discharge. It's quite common for older patients to move in and out of the hospital quickly: They go to the emergency room, then get admitted to the hospital, and a day or two later enter a nursing or rehabilitation facility for short-term recovery. If your loved one is in this situation, see if the treating physician and the hospitalist (the hospital's own in-house doctor) will agree to keep him in the hospital for one extra day. If so, Medicare Part A will pay the full amount for his care for the first 20 days when he's transferred to a skilled nursing or rehab facility. If not, he gets no Medicare coverage at all at the facility and will have to move home -- which he may not be ready to do -- to get Medicare Part B coverage of home healthcare.