Enteral Feeding Tube Research Paper

Enteral Tube Feeding and Severe Dementia

Medicare covers many healthcare related services such as inpatient hospital stays, certain skilled nursing services in the long term care facilities, and hospice care for terminally ill beneficiaries or post-acute cares in home settings. Medicare coverage helps many beneficiaries to receive healthcare services that they require to live healthier lives through preventive wellness services as well as medical treatments that save lives. For example, a gastrostomy tube insertion benefits a patient with dysphagia related to an acute medical condition to rehab and regain independence to live a quality life. The gastrostomy tube enables the beneficiary to receive necessary nutrition and rehab to regain swallowing ability. Otherwise the beneficiary is at risk for many life threatening medical conditions such as aspiration pneumonia, or malnutrition. Enteral feeding tube has its benefit to save many lives and Medicare should cover the necessary medical treatments.

However, Medicare Part A coverage of the 100 days post-acute skilled services of an enteral feeding tube for a person with severe dementia should be proscribed. A Medicare beneficiary who had the 3 days qualifying acute hospital stay with a surgically inserted enteral feeding tube

One of those comorbidities is dementia. According to Alzheimer’s Association’s alz.org article, Dementia is associated with decline in memory or other thinking skills that causes a person to lose his or her independence in activity of daily living such ability to walk or eat independently. Deterioration of physical and cognitive functions is an unavoidable progression of dementia. Yet the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services allows an automatic 100 days of Medicare Part A coverage to prolong their beneficiaries’ lives without medical necessity or reasonable benefit in skilled nursing facility