What is skilled care?

What is skilled care?

Karl Steinberg (Associate Medical Director, Sharp Mission Park Medical Group) gives expert video advice on: What is long-term care?; Why should I worry about long-term care?; Who needs long-term care? and more...

Skilled care is typically care that's given in a nursing facility that requires the assistance of skilled personnel. In order to meet the criteria under Medicare, or any of the Medicare HMO plans, it essentially requires that you need on a daily basis either skilled nursing assistance, for example dressing changes. Let's say you're getting an IV. Having a feeding tube is considered a skilled need even though it's not particularly complicated. Also, it could involve needing other kinds of licensed skilled care, for example, that would be provided by a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist and so on.