Hospital to home checklist
Discharge often happens faster than families expect. These are the questions worth asking before anyone leaves the building.
Ask before discharge
- Has home health been ordered? If not, why not?
- Which medications changed, which stopped, and which are new?
- What warning signs mean we call the doctor, and which mean 911?
- Who is the follow-up appointment with, and when?
- What equipment is needed at home — walker, commode, hospital bed, oxygen?
- Is there a wound, catheter or tube that needs care, and who is trained to do it?
- Ask to speak with the discharge planner or hospital social worker
The first week at home
- Fill every prescription the same day — gaps cause readmissions
- Put the medication list on the fridge where anyone can find it
- Confirm the home health agency has called and scheduled a first visit
- Clear the path to the bathroom, remove loose rugs, add a night light
- Attend the follow-up appointment — missing it is a common cause of going back in
- Weigh daily if there is heart failure, and call for a sudden gain
Why this matters
1 in 5
Medicare patients readmitted within 30 days
Many of those admissions are preventable
24 hrs
When home health should make contact
If nobody has called, chase it
$0
Cost of covered Medicare home health
There is no financial reason to decline it