LTAC stands for long-term acute care. Traditional acute care hospitals provide a broad range of services such as emergency care, surgery, and ICU designed for short-stay hospitalizations, typically 3-7 days in length. In contrast, LTAC hospitals are designed to provide an acute level of care with a length of stay average of 25 days.
 

LTAC hospitals are designed to care for patients who remain acutely ill which requires a multidisciplinary team of professionals to achieve. This includes daily visits from your attending physician, specialty physician consults and routine visits, nursing care, respiratory care including ventilator management, certified wound care nurse, on-sight dialysis, telemetry, pharmacy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language pathology.

North Alabama Specialty Hospitals' interdisciplinary healthcare team which includes an RN case manager will begin discussing discharge planning well before the discharge date arrives. Outpatient services, DME equipment, and follow-up physician appointments will be scheduled and in place prior to discharge.

A-Physicians and providers round daily on each patient.
 

A-NASH speciality hospital provides a hospital level of care(daily physician rounding,telemetry,advanced respiratory management,advanced wound care management)  Skilled nursing facilities are typically located within a nursing home
 

A-Inpatient rehabilitation facilities require patients to perform 3 hours of therapy per day.  NASH tailors the patient's rehabilitation plan based on the patient's medical ability to participate.  The interdisciplinary team work closely with the patient to provide therapy services in an effort to return the patient to the prior level of physical function.

When you leave a traditional hospital, you may need continued care to recover completely. Our hospitals, certified as long-term acute care hospitals, offer the same in-depth care you would receive in a traditional hospital or intensive care unit, but for an extended recovery period. 

We partner with your physician and offer 24-hour clinical care seven days a week so you can start your journey to wellness.

A process called discharge planning begins immediately upon admission to any hospital to ensure you are in the appropriate care setting for your medical needs. Your care coordinator may have suggested NASH Hospitals because:

• You need more recovery time in a hospital setting 
• We specialize in treating your diagnoses
• You require daily monitoring by a physician(s)
• You require team-based care

Traditional hospitals treat your short-term medical needs for typically four to five days, but our hospitals have an additional Medicare certification that allows you to receive in-depth care for an extended time. 

You might be referred to us if you:

• Are dependent upon a ventilator or other technology for regular breathing
• Have medically complex conditions such as pulmonary disease, neurological deficits, cardiac disease, renal (kidney) failure requiring dialysis, wound care, infectious diseases or complications following surgery
• Have simultaneous chronic conditions or multi-system organ failure with significant loss of independence
• Need extended care or recovery time after a traditional hospital stay

Our goal is to help you efficiently transition to the next step of your treatment plan to regain your independence through specialized long-term acute care

At our hospitals, you receive a higher level of specialized care than the care provided in a skilled nursing center. Under our care, you have 24-hour physician or physician-extender coverage and are seen at least once per day by the attending physician. We provide around-the-clock nursing RN, LPN, and 24-hour Respiratory therapy.

We want the transition to be as smooth as possible for you and your family. That’s why one of our clinical liaisons will meet with your care coordinator to review your medical history and current health condition. Once it’s determined that a NASH Hospital is right for you, an admission date and time will be selected by all parties involved.  

Part of the admission process outlined above includes verification of insurance. We encourage you and your family to be as familiar with your coverage and benefits as possible; however, if you have any questions, we can refer you to someone in our admissions office who may be able to assist with any financial or insurance questions. We accept most forms of insurance. 

NASH offers physical, occupational, and speech therapy services customized to each patient's needs.

When you are ready to leave our hospital, we will help you find an option for the next level of care:

• Home health
• Acute rehabilitation
• Inpatient rehabilitation hospitals 
• Skilled nursing centers
• Subacute units
• Assisted living facilities
• Any applicable outpatient services

Informing Patients of the Complaint Process 
Organizations using CIHQ accreditation for Medicare deemed-status purposes must inform patients, or their surrogate decision-maker, of the right to file complaints regarding quality-of-care concerns or safety issues to CIHQ. The patient/surrogate decision maker is not required to notify the organization prior to filing the complaint. 

Information on how to contact CIHQ to file a complaint:

Online: https://cihq.org/complaint

Mail:
Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality
P.O. Box 1540
Mexia, TX 76667-1540
Attn: Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 512-661-2813