Abbreviations

Today we're going to look at another title. This will be the first in looking at 3 titles leading up to another longer post, where having an understanding of the individual titles will help with understanding of the healthcare system rather than a specific encounter in the medical record.  I find that having an excellent understanding of the healthcare system allows the client and attorney to communicate better and the attorney achieve better outcomes for the client.

Today's abbreviation:

LTAC- Long term acute care

An LTAC is a type of hospital. When it is abbreviated it is pronounced el-tack. A long term acute care hospital is similar to a traditional acute care hospital but the patients need ongoing acute care. The patients tend to be in these hospitals for months at a time. Patients are very sick, but stable. Many places feature an OR, ICU, and other critical care needs, but they do not necessarily feature absolutely everything that is in an traditional acute care hospital, such as MRI machines, ER's and other diagnostic services.  Not all long term acute care hospitals have operating rooms or intensive care units, so many times the sickest of the sick are transferred back to a traditional acute care hospital. 

The most common area to see this information is in the discharge planning from an acute care hospital. 

Examples

Pt. to be transferred to LTAC when cleared by surgery. 
Insurance approved LTAC stay, pt. to be discharged on Thursday to LTAC.