Healthcare transition often can present a confusing scenario. This article is from The Buffalo News (Buffalo, NY) and is specific to New York, but the issue of transition applies everywhere.

“Staffing levels, health inspections and whether a facility has been fined for conditions that could harm residents are all public information and easily accessible through the federal Nursing Home Compare website that rates nursing homes. But many families don’t have the information at the very moment they need it most.”

“Already two hours late, Roberta Novack waits patiently in a corner for an ambulance team to arrive to transport her brother Henry Kostrzewa, 52, to his latest stay at the Buffalo Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing on Delaware Ave. in Buffalo This was on Saturday, July 28, 2018.” (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)

by Lou Michel

“The call from the hospital jolted Henry Kostrzewa’s sister. Erie County Medical Center was going to discharge the 52-year-old disabled welder and she needed to help him pick a nursing home.

“The clock was ticking.

“Kostrzewa had been informed he could end up personally responsible for his hospital bills because he had been ‘medically cleared’ to move into a nursing home.

“Roberta Novack told her younger brother not to sign anything. She feared he would end up in a facility unable to provide quality care for the bone infection in his spine that had kept him bedridden for months following a hip replacement surgery.”

Click here to read this article at The Buffalo News in its entirety.