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 What is a Skilled
Swing Bed Program
“Swing bed” is a
concept developed by Medicare in the 1970’s to help with underutilized
hospital beds and the lack of nursing home beds in rural areas. These
two issues have resolved themselves over time, partly due to the
conversion of most rural hospitals to Critical Access Hospitals like
I-70 Medical Center.
A swing bed doesn’t
swing physically, but it swings in the way Medicare reimburses for the
care provided to the patient. A patient being treated for an acute
condition can remain in the hospital for follow-up care rather than be
discharged to home when they are not quite ready or discharged to the
nursing home when they really only need care for a few more days or
weeks. The patient stays in the same bed, receives the same care, but
the services are billed differently. Or the patient may have been
hospitalized in facility away from home and be transferred back to
their local hospital for their swing bed stay.
Qualifications for Swing Bed
Physician's Referral
Payment Qualifications for Medicare Swing Bed
Not Ready to go Home After an Acute Stay?
Health Care Benefits of the Swing Bed Program
Contact Information
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Herb Smith of Slater Missouri Talks About the
Swingbed Program at I-70 Medical Center
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