When your doctor decides you can leave the hospital, he or she will authorize a discharge. 
But the discharge process actually starts soon after you enter the hospital. The hospital’s discharge planner will communicate with your doctors, surgeon, nurses and therapists to create a plan of care for you after you leave the hospital. They will determine whether you need to spend time in a long- or short-term care facility, whether you can go directly home and whether or not you will need in-home care. This is what is known as discharge planning.
What Can I Expect?
Early in your hospital stay, you and your family may meet with the hospital’s discharge planner. That person may be a nurse, social worker or administrator. The discharge planner will work with you and your family to make sure you have a plan for care after you leave the hospital.
In this article and the others in the series, you will find questions to ask the discharge planner, checklists for preparing to leave the hospital, tips for transitioning from hospital to home and more.
This article was written for you (the patient), as well as for your family and/or caregiver. Share it with those who will be participating in your care, and you will help ease the transition from hospital to home.
Who Is My Caregiver?
It is important that you have a person who will help you adjust to being back home or in another facility when you are discharged from the hospital. That person is called a caregiver. It can be your spouse or partner, adult child or grandchild, other relative or friend.
Your caregiver can help with your direct care, take care of financial matters—such as managing your bank accounts and paying your mortgage and other bills—offer emotional support, accompany you to doctor visits, cook meals and more. Be sure your caregiver reads this article along with you so the two of you can make sure the discharge process runs smoothly for all involved.
Prior to discharge:
- Arrange for an in-hospital assessment to determine Medicare or insurance eligibility for home-care services like visiting nurses, therapists, and aides.
- After eligibility has been established, set up any needed home-care services.
Make sure that all caregivers:
- Have a written medication list with specific instructions on dosage, how long the medications should be taken and information about possible side effects.
- Have been taught techniques like bed-to-chair transfers, care procedures and use and monitoring of equipment.
- Understand the care plan and agree to follow it.
- Have a phone list of all important contacts, including doctors, therapists, home health personnel, pharmacy and emergency numbers.
You Have Choices
When you meet with the hospital discharge planner, he or she will have suggestions for after-care facilities, home health agencies and more. But you and your caregiver should also take the time before you leave the hospital to find out what other resources are available in your area. For example, you want to be sure that a facility 
is easy for your friends and relatives to get to and will provide the level of care that you need. If you aren’t comfortable with the plan your discharge planner is proposing, don’t be afraid to speak up, ask questions and make the decision that is best for you.
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