Swing Bed

What are hospital swing beds? Why the swing bed program so important? Also, I'm curious to know what type of facilities use a program reads swing, and patients who qualify .... Any help is greatly appreciated!

developed in the 1970s, formally called the Programme of rural hospital long-term care services, to use excess hospital beds in rural areas to provide long-term care for frail and disabled . Unofficially, it was known as "swing-bed program."

a swing bed is a term used to describe the use of a hospital bed for acute or skilled level of care. it applies to rural hospitals under 100 beds. following eligibility criteria: patients must have before qualifying hospital stay of at least three days.

The swing-bed idea was born of a twin set of problems facing health care systems in rural areas: (1) hospitals have been built to a scale often resulted in their having more beds for patients complete, and (2) the frail elderly who have a disability often need to go to nursing homes far from where they lived. In this chapter, columnist Sharon Begley, science with The Wall Street Journal, which has previously contributed to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology, tells the story of how some leaders I developed an apparently simple solution these two problems: the use of empty hospital beds patients requiring long term care skilled nursing. Begley goes on to describe how the idea developed swing-bed, even on the initial reluctance of federal regulators to make an exception to the regulation of insurance, the suspicion of nursing homes who have received the idea and uncertainty about the level of care of a practitioner could offer the occupant of a bed swing. The idea took hold, however, today, more than 60 percent of rural hospitals have swing-bed arrangement. With hindsight, the concept of swing-bed process as unusually ideal: it has been tested on a small scale, the results were measured and then the model has been gradually extended to other rural areas. The federal government has been involved since its inception, the Foundation concluded that the idea has been gathering steam and was able to influence the development and help guide the direction it takes. As with many innovations in services, the Foundation's role was strategic and support, which represents only a force in a larger national effort.