Told the hospital stay is over before you agree? You have the right to a fast, independent review. Today.
Medicare patients can ask an independent reviewer to look at a discharge decision. It is free to request. The deadlines are short. Almost nobody knows how it works until they are standing in the corridor. This kit walks you, or the family member with you, through every step. $49.
The deadlines are short.
This is for you if
This is for you if
- Told to leave too soon
- Helping a parent
- Need to act today
THE PROBLEM, PLAINLY
A nurse or case manager says the discharge is tomorrow.
You do not think your parent is ready.
Here is what almost nobody tells you in that moment. Medicare gives the patient a right to a fast appeal, reviewed by an organization that does not work for the hospital. There are protections that can apply while the review happens. And the clock for using that right is short and strict.
Families lose the right not because they were wrong. They lose it because nobody explained the deadline in time.
THE DEADLINE, AS MEDICARE SETS IT
Medicare sets the deadline in plain terms. Ask for the fast appeal no later than the day the patient is scheduled to be discharged. The notice you were handed, the Important Message from Medicare, gives the directions for how.
Ask in time and a protection applies. The patient can stay in the hospital while the reviewer decides. For that stay, the patient is not responsible for the cost, beyond the usual coinsurance or deductible.
Miss the day and the review is not lost. You can still ask the reviewer to look at the case. Different rules and timeframes apply then. The patient may become responsible for the cost of the stay past the original discharge day. That is a reason to call now, not a reason to wait.
Here is the part most people miss. You start the appeal by telephone. The call itself starts it. No form is needed to begin. The detail comes after. The hospital must give you a Detailed Notice of Discharge by noon the next day, and the reviewer then asks for your account. So make the call today. Build the case after.
THE NAME ON YOUR NOTICE
Your notice has an organization on it you may never have heard of. It is worth knowing who they are, because you may also find that the name has changed.
Medicare pays two independent contractors, called Quality Improvement Organizations, to review appeals like yours. Which one handles your case depends on where you live.
They are Acentra Health, which used to be called Kepro, and Commence Health, which used to be called Livanta.
Here is the part that catches people out. Commence Health changed its name from Livanta in August 2025, but hospitals are still allowed to hand out printed notices with the old name on them. So your paperwork may say Livanta, and the website may say Commence Health, and both are correct. It is the same organization. Your appeal is not affected.
Whichever name is on your notice, that organization is not the hospital. It does not work for the hospital. It is the independent reviewer, and it is who your appeal goes to.
Patient Stand has no connection to Commence Health, Livanta, Acentra Health, Kepro, Medicare, or any government agency or contractor. We are not affiliated with them, endorsed by them, or acting for them. We prepare the documents you send them.
INCLUDED WITH THIS KIT
30 days of questions at the standard 48-hour reply.
THE HONEST BIT
The appeal itself is free. Medicare's review process costs nothing to use, and you could find the pieces yourself online, given time and calm.
This kit exists because discharge decisions rarely come with either.
$49 buys every step in the right order, today, with someone to ask.
What you get
A one-page, do-this-now sheet. Who to call, what to say, and the deadline that applies, first.
The appeal request prepared step by step, with the scripts for each phone call
A plain explanation of what the reviewer looks at, and what happens hour by hour
Guidance on the documents to ask the hospital for, and how to ask for them
What to do next under each outcome, including if the answer is no
- One flat fee
- Never a percentage
- Answers within 48 hours
- Ready in 2 business days
- Full refund before delivery
- You send it yourself
Your order
$49. One discharge situation.
No percentage of your bill or your savings. No income requirement.
The appeal deadline is set by Medicare, not by us, and we cannot extend it. The fast appeal must be requested no later than the day the patient is scheduled to leave, while they are still in the hospital. Medicare's own information is at medicare.gov.
Patient Stand prepares documents and explains the process. We do not give legal, financial, medical or tax advice, we do not act on your behalf, and we cannot promise any outcome. Deadlines are set by Medicare, your provider or the collector, never by us. Meeting them is your responsibility. Medicare's own information is at medicare.gov.
The documents
The findings
The instructions
- One flat fee
- Never a percentage
- Answers within 48 hours
- Ready in 2 business days
- Full refund before delivery
- You send it yourself
You send everything yourself, in your own name. You can read a real sample before you buy, and your documents are deleted 90 days after your order.
Questions
Often, yes.
The deadline is no later than the day the patient is scheduled to leave, so the sooner you call, the better. The first page of the kit is the deadline check. Start there.
It pauses the decision for an independent review.
It does not guarantee a longer stay, and no honest person can promise you one. What it does is make sure the decision is checked by someone who does not work for the hospital.
Yes, and most people in your position are.
The kit is written for the family member standing in the room, working with the patient.