Adult Subacute Center - Dignity Health - Community Hospital of San Bernardino

Subacute care is a level of medical care for medically stable patients after a serious illness, injury or surgery. It includes skilled nursing care, personalized rehabilitation therapy and 24/7 medical monitoring to support your recovery. A stay in a subacute unit may be short-term or long-term, depending on a patient’s needs.

Following subacute care, patients often return home with home health care, go to a skilled nursing facility or transfer to an inpatient rehabilitation program to continue healing.

Acute care is a short-term, intensive level of medical treatment. It’s provided in the hospital immediately after a serious illness, injury or surgery. It focuses on stabilizing a patient’s condition, managing urgent symptoms and preventing complications.

Subacute care comes after acute care, once a patient is medically stable but still needs continued treatment or rehabilitation therapy. While it still offers medical care, it focuses more on recovery, therapy and regaining function.

Subacute care is generally for people who need ongoing medical and rehabilitation care before they can return home or move to a more intensive inpatient rehabilitation program. Many patients receiving subacute care need a tracheostomy, a ventilator, a feeding tube, ongoing wound care or IV medications.

Community Hospital of San Bernardino provides specialized care for complex medical conditions, including:

• Brain damage and traumatic brain injury (TBI)

• Complex neurological disorders

• Critical illness

• Genetic conditions

• Heart conditions

• Motor vehicle accident (MVA) injuries

• Neuromuscular disorders, including muscular dystrophy

• Spinal cord injury, including paraplegia and quadriplegia

• Tracheostomy tube dependency

• Ventilator dependency

Our specialists and nurses deliver specialized medical services that include:

• 24/7 skilled nursing care

• BiPAP and CPAP dependency services

• IV therapy, short and long term

• Nutrition support, including G-tube (feeding tube) and total parenteral nutrition (TPN) therapy

• Care after orthopedic surgery

• Tracheostomy care

• Ventilator dependency and weaning

• Wound care

Our team of subacute social workers, case managers and therapists offers a range of rehabilitative and support services, including: 

• Case management

• Community and interpersonal socialization

• Counseling

• Education and training for specialized care

• Family and resident council

• Support for activities of daily living

• Occupational therapy

• Physical therapy

• Respiratory therapy

• Respite care

• Speech therapy

• Spiritual care

The length of subacute care varies based on your condition, goals and progress. Some patients need only a few weeks of care, while others may benefit from longer-term services. Your care team at Community Hospital of San Bernardino will continue to evaluate your progress and medical needs. When you no longer need subacute care, your team may recommend outpatient rehabilitation or another level of care.

Coverage for subacute care depends on your health insurance benefits. Community Hospital of St. Bernardino accepts many major health insurance plans, including preferred provider organization (PPO) and health maintenance organization (HMO) plans. We also accept Medicare and Medi-Cal.

Since most plans, including Medicare, have limited coverage, we generally require that an application for Medi-Cal be completed as soon as possible if it appears that your stay will exceed a very short term.