Tampa Nursing Homes Information

Some Tampa area facilities have the means to provide for both types of care. Some institutions also have special care units that give expert care to patients with specific medical concerns.

Short-term care utilizes rehabilitation services to help patients recover from the effects of strokes, aneurisms, falls, surgeries, heart attacks or other acute medical crises. An estimated three-quarters of short-term patients were previous hospitalized due to their crisis. Patients receive care on a professionally prescribed plan that is individually tailored to help patients restore function, rebuild strength and minimize or reverse any damage already incurred. Patients often use respiratory, speech, occupational or physical therapy to reach a level of health where they can pursue less inclusive care. Short-term care is often the intermediate stage of a patient’s full recovery. Many move to assisted living or in home care for the last stage.

The initial stage of recuperation is hospital care. This is a vital component for a future short-term nursing care patient. Quality hospital care can get patients off on the correct footing and can give them access to knowledgeable recommendations to area SNFs. Tampa’s most quality health care services, based on patients’ previous hospital visits, can be found at Tampa General Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Long-term care is centered on delivering extensive, extended and responsive treatment to patients with Alzheimer’s, pulmonary, kidney or cardiovascular disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis, cancer and other serious medical conditions. Nursing homes focus on restoring or maintaining each patient’s level of health through their collaborative network of multidisciplinary personnel. Doctors and nurses offer continuous health monitoring, document all services provided by the facility and carry out complicated medical procedures like colostomies, tracheostomies, wound care, intravenous therapy, blood testing and medication adjustments. Custodial care is delivered by non-medical staff. Social workers and recreational planners try to stimulate social interaction through home-wide activities, games, events, dinners and outings.

Tampa skilled nursing facility care costs fall just slightly above the Florida state median. Private and semi-private nursing home rooms bear monthly costs of $6,753 and $7,178, respectively. Home care services, like homemaker services and home health aide, cost $3,480 and $3,623 month, respectively. Adult day health care runs a monthly cost of $1,300. Assisted living bedrooms cost $2,775 per month in the area.

Preparing for the financial burden of nursing care costs cannot be done far enough in advance. Since nursing care is not covered by traditional health insurance, many patients must pay out of pocket. Private means of financing can drive families to dip into their retirement savings or even lose their house to pay for nursing care. Unanticipated nursing care can wreck your savings. It is important to know the limitations of certain types of coverage or government benefits.

Medicare only provides 100 days of coverage in one benefit period. The last 80 days of nursing stays are subject to a copay fee. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that has different eligibility in each state. Certain facilities do not recognize Medicaid coverage. Long-term care insurance is increasingly used to safeguard against the cost of nursing care. However, expensive monthly premiums put long-term care insurance out of the range of a vast swath of the population.