Physician Opportunities at Kindred Hospitals

About Long-Term Acute Care Hospitals

LTAC (Long-Term Acute Care) hospitals provide an acute hospital level of care and services to patients requiring prolonged hospitalization. LTAC hospitals are different from acute care general hospitals in that they treat patients who stay, on average, about 25 days. Care levels extend from ICU beds (at most of our hospitals) to monitored beds to general medical care. Most of our hospitals have ORs or treatment rooms for invasive and minor surgical procedures such as G-tube placement and wound debridement.

Nationally we have two types of hospitals. The first is a freestanding hospital, which typically has 50-80 patient beds. The second is an HIH, or hospital in a hospital. This is an LTAC hospital located inside or on the same campus as a general acute care hospital. These tend to range from 30-45 beds. Both operate as independently licensed, certified and accredited hospitals.

What Is Unique About Care at an LTAC Hospital?

LTAC hospitals are unique for many reasons, including:

1. The acute level of services are provided by the physicians, nurses and clinical staff on a daily basis.
2. The multidisciplinary approach to patient care is through care teams, rounding and family meetings
3. Extended recovery time
4. Provides the ability to work collaboratively with the leadership team and the opportunity to play an administrative role in patient care

Who are LTAC Patients?

The typical LTAC patient is older with three to six concurrent active diagnoses, or someone who has suffered an acute episode on top of several chronic illnesses. Over 95% of our patients are admitted from a STAC (short-term acute care) hospital. Approximately 25% of our patients are on mechanical ventilation, 25% have at least one wound, and almost 50% have a central line.

Most of our patients have already undergone extensive work-ups at the STAC and have developed and initiated a treatment plan with the referring physician team. Common conditions include but are not limited to ventilator weaning, severe infection, complex wound care, CHF, COPD and renal insufficiency. As many as 10% of our patients may require acute hemodialysis at some time during their LTAC stay.

What Distinguishes the LTAC Hospital Care Model?

Unlike STACs, LTAC hospitals are designed instead for the development, administration and adjustments of prolonged medical treatment plans carried out by a multidisciplinary team including nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, rehabilitation therapists and specialty physicians such as cardiologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists and ENT physicians.

The main attending physician is generally a hospitalist, internist or pulmonologist. In addition, due to the size of our hospitals, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Clinical Officers and Quality Managers are actively involved in the daily care of patients.

What Physician Opportunities are in a Kindred LTAC Hospital?

There are several types of physician opportunities available at Kindred Hospitals:

• Volunteer physicians attend or consult at facilities where privileged (applications available at each hospital)

• Professional services agreement as an hourly contract arrangement
• Guarantee arrangement

• Physicians are employed by Kindred

To Learn More, Contact:

Paul Eiseman
Vice President, Business Development and Physician Relations
Office: 502.596.7016
Cell: 502.541.3770
paul.eiseman@kindredhealthcare.com