What is a Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH)?

Long Term Acute Care Hospitals provide specialized long-term care to individuals who are chronically critically ill, who present difficult conditions to treat, and who require specialized, goal-directed care and an extended recovery period. Also known as Transitional Care Hospitals, LTACHs are licensed with additional Medicare certification that supports a length of stay measured in weeks (more than 25 days on average for Medicare patients) as compared to the typical five-day stay for patients in traditional hospitals.
Even though the patients might be as critically ill as patients in short-term acute care hospitals, the goals of a LTACH are different: The goal of short-term acute care settings is to stabilize the patient on a day-to-day basis. In an LTACH, the interdisciplinary team focuses on quickly identifying the medical conditions to formulate a treatment plan and set reasonable goals, aiming for improvement over the long term.

LTACHs provide services to:

• Patients with multiple acute conditions requiring daily physician attention
• Patients with three to six concurrent active diagnoses and an acute episode on top of several chronic illnesses that cannot be treated effectively at any other level of care

When is a Long Term Acute Care Hospital the right choice?

When a patient’s care needs to be directed by a physician, when a patient’s condition requires physician availability at all times – then the patient should be in a Long Term Acute Care Hospital.

At LTACHs, the specialists have the ability to thoroughly assess their patients and promptly recognize their conditions, knowing the best treatment options for each particular patient, being able to quickly identify the uniqueness of the patient’s needs, how the patient is different, and how they can be on the way to recovery, assuring the best possible outcomes.

When considering the choices for post-acute care, patients and their families ought to keep in mind that in contrast to nursing facilities (where the patient’s care is under the direction of one or more nurses) and rehabilitation centers (where the patient’s care is led by one or more rehabilitation specialists), at Long Term Acute Care Hospitals the patient’s care is at all times directed and supervised by physicians, and specialists certified to treat complicated medical conditions occurring at the same time.

Why is Plum Creek Specialty Hospital the best choice for Long Term Care in Amarillo?

We are unique in our ability to care for medically complex patients who require an extended recovery time. We have a superb team of specialists, the best that modern medical technology has to offer – and real personalized attention that goes far beyond good bedside manners.

Usually arriving at our hospital from short-term acute care settings, our patients receive much needed care through treatment delivered by Board-certified specialists who see them daily, thus assuring the best possible outcomes.

Known for their ability to treat patients with multiple conditions, our interdisciplinary team is made up of Board-certified specialists, nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, and therapists intent on providing the best treatment, encouraging the patient’s progress, championing their recovery and advancing their well-being.