BackWhat are LTACHs?
Article submitted by Richard Luna, Western Regional Senior Vice President of Promise Healthcare, Inc. He can be reached at Promise Hospital of Salt Lake City at 801-350-4110.
Long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals, such as Promise Hospital of Salt Lake City, use an interdisciplinary team approach to high acuity treatment specifically designed for patients who need an extended acute care recovery period for the treatment of life's most serious illnesses and injuries. While patients can be admitted from several settings (including a physician's office or from home), many patients are admitted directly from a short-stay hospital intensive care unit with complex medical conditions, such as respiratory or ventilator-dependent conditions that require aggressive and continuous acute care services.
LTAC hospitals specialize in the medical management of patients with complex, unresolved, acute, chronic, or catastrophic illnesses, as well as multi-system disease processes. Patients benefit from the unique LTAC hospital environment that delivers acute medical care with aggressive clinical and therapeutic services to hasten recovery and achieve personalized recovery goals.
According to the Acute Long-Term Hospital Association (ALTHA), LTAC hospitals differ from skilled nursing facilities and subacute programs in that LTAC patients are much more acutely ill, often critically ill, and require more specialized treatment programs and intensive nursing intervention than are generally available within subacute programs. At an LTAC hospital patients see their physician daily and receive 24-hour nursing care. Significant ancillary services are provided, including a full-service laboratory; radiology; respiratory care; complex wound care; physical, speech and occupational therapies, etc.
LTAC hospitals use an interdisciplinary team approach to treatment led by a select group of dedicated local physicians who are committed to providing quality patient care. Nurses, therapists, nutritionists, and case managers work with patients' physicians to insure that patients get personalized, compassionate care in the most efficient and appropriate manner. Each patient's treatment plan is individually designed to meet their specific recovery goals.
LTAC hospital admissions departments work closely with a patient's physician as well as the other healthcare providers within the continuum of care to make the patient's transition to the LTAC hospital a smooth process. Clinical liaisons provide an on-site evaluation of the patient as quickly as possible to determine if they meet criteria for the distinctive LTAC level of care, as time is valuable and every minute counts when treatment is needed.