Just out of curiosity...........

[anonymous]

Here's just an idea for why stays in other countries other then the US may be longer.....I wonder if their government/insurance companies impose maximum length of stays, etc.
I think a lot of our insurances (in US) including Medicare try to limit how many days per year that we can be hospitalized--true? or am I mistaken?

 

[julie]

definately mistaken if you are speaking overall of insurance companies and generalized visits, some types of visits have time limitations based on complications or lack thereof. Medicare/Medicaid have no maximum hospitalization times throughout the year, but all insurance companies do look at excessive hospitalizations and request justification from doctors. Stuff like labor and deliver is limited if you have an uncomplicated delivery but other than that, there are "standard" recovery times for surgeries but those are subject to the condition of the patient.

 

[JazzysMom]

The only "official" restrictions on times with admissions is regarding inpatient mental healthy care in a psychiatric facility which is a lifetime max of 190 days. Other then that any restrictions falls into $$$ meaning the inpatient deductable (1-60 days inpatient...$876.00/admission for 2005), co insurance (61-90 days inpatient...$219.00/day for 2005) & lifetime reserve (91-150 days inpatient...$438.00/day for 2005) & then all costs after the 150th day. Once the lifetime reserve days are used they are gone forever. They dont usually get used unless someone is waiting for Nursing home placement. This is assuming you are in consecutively with no more than 3 days in between admits. Should there be a break of more than 60 days then the inpatient deductable would be do again & so on.
By the way I am referring to Medicare coverage.

 

[anonymous]

Why do you have to stay in the hospital so long? Cant you do IVs at home? What causes people to not be able to go home? We only stay for 24 hours to make sure the IVs are ok and then we go home! How can you have a child in there for so long?

 

[JazzysMom]

The longest I have stayed in is 4 weeks & then went home on IV which varied from 7 - 6 weeks. For me the doctor wants me to get as much rest, manual clapping & fluids while doing minimal running. Its hard when you are a Mom, wife & a CFer. My doctor always strives for the longest stay that is feasible for my health & my family. The usual compromise if tests show I am stable is 10-14 days. Years ago (when others doctors were there) they "mandatory" stay was 12 days (it took that long to get the full benefit of IV) & your weight had to be at a certain level. That was also before HMO & other insurance restrictions came into play. Everyone is different & there would be a difference if you are going in for a "Tune Up" versus being really sick which is when I usually go in.

 

[HollyCatheryn]

The three longest stays in my life (that I recall) were my diagnosis (2-3 weeks), my first hospitalization for tune-up (10 days) and "the biggie" when everything went wrong all at once (5 weeks). Other than that they've all been a week or less. Usually 48-72 hours. They start my meds, check blood levels and send me home on IV for a few weeks. I would caution people from staying in the hospital too long. Hospitals carry WAY more germs than any other place on the planet besides a trash dump, but most of the germs in the trash dump are common ones. The ones in the hospitals are freaky, scary ones. I've caught some terrible stuff IN the hospital, that I didn't have before admission. I've never caught a staph infection at home or a blood infection. I say, get stabilized and get out! We all rest better, eat better and get well better at home anyway.