KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho — Many of Kootenai Health’s hospital beds are filled, and often staying full, with patients waiting for transfers to post-acute care facilities that are also at capacity and unable to take new patients.
Post-acute care is prescribed for patients who no longer need hospital-level care, but do require continued treatment, often long-term, for things like mobility issues and dementia.
“I think it’s a crisis in the making and we’re inching closer to it,” said Heidi Peterson, owner of Peterson Place Assisted Living in Hayden. “You’re seeing homes close down all over the United States. If you can’t find people to work the homes, you can’t fill it. And if you can’t fill it, they can’t be profitable. People are going to need a place to stay and there isn’t going to be a bed.”
Long-term care facilities and hospital staff are already seeing that strain firsthand.
“What we’re seeing is about half of the (post-acute facility) beds are staffed,” said Dr. Karen Cabell, chief physician executive at Kootenai Health.
To read the full article, visit our news partner the Coeur d'Alene Press.
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