How to Help Your Family Member Transition to Assisted Living After Hospitalization

In an ideal scenario, the transition to assisted living happens gradually, with time to plan and prepare. But sometimes, things change quickly, and a hospital stay means the move to assisted living comes sooner than expected.

Even when the timeline feels rushed, there’s still the opportunity to create a thoughtful, caring transition to assisted living after hospitalization. With some support and steady guidance, you can find a welcoming community where every resident feels safe, comfortable, and truly at home.

In this guide, we'll discuss:

• Post-hospitalization rehab
• Staying updated with hospital discharge plans
• Finding the right community
• Asking the right questions
• Taking a tour
• Making the decision
• Preparing for moving day
• Next steps

Post-hospitalization rehab may not be enough.

Post-hospitalization rehab can be helpful after a hospital stay, but it’s often just the beginning of the recovery journey. Rehabilitation is designed to provide focused therapy and medical care for a limited time. The goal is to improve strength, mobility, and function. However, it’s a short-term option. 

Assisted living communities provide a more supportive and safer option for many older adults. In this setting, your family member will receive personalized care and have access to around-the-clock staff members, medication management, supportive services, amenities, and events in a structured environment that supports recovery.

Stay updated with hospital discharge plans.

Discharge planning begins almost immediately in the hospital. While your family member will remain in the hospital to get the acute care they need, the hospital’s social work team will begin to assess their needs and prepare for their discharge. To avoid being blindsided by a fast discharge, make sure you’re staying updated on the hospital’s discharge plans.

Connect with the care team immediately and touch base with them daily to see what the discharge timeline looks like and to keep them informed on your progress as you search for assisted living after the hospitalization. As long as you aren’t taking a very long time to find a senior living community, discharge planners at the hospital are often able to shift the discharge date by a few days to buy you more time to find the right fit.

If your family member is moving from the hospital to a skilled nursing facility and then to an assisted living community, you will work with the discharge team at the hospital and then at the skilled nursing facility.

Find the right community.

You can begin to search for senior living communities as a part of a discharge plan. However, you will need to search quickly because a discharge date is looming. This means you need to make the process as efficient as possible.

Begin your search by looking for communities that provide the required care services. If you aren’t sure what type of support and assistance will be needed after discharge, speak with the physician or care team. Additionally, it’s important to receive a care assessment from a physician. Assisted living communities provide care assessments from medical professionals, and many communities offer these services at no charge.

Is assisted living after hospitalization the right choice?

Assisted living offers around-the-clock caregiver oversight and assistance personalized to each resident’s needs and abilities. Residents enjoy knowing that they can receive support with tasks such as dressing, grooming, or bathing. They’ll also have three delicious and healthy meals a day in the on-site dining room with neighbors. 

Some communities, such as Cedarhurst, offer all-day dining, so residents can eat meals on their schedule. These communities are active, with multiple programs and events scheduled throughout the days and evenings. 

Ask the right questions.

Now that you have a list of communities in your desired location that offer assisted living, you can call each community to get more information. This enables you to narrow your choices down before touring communities.

Have a list of questions handy during your calls to help you remember what to ask. Jot down the answers to keep the information organized as you further narrow down your list. Here are a few questions you can ask to determine which communities make your short tour list:

Do you have any available apartments?

Depending on the discharge plan, you might not be able to wait for weeks or months for an apartment to become available. Asking up front if there are any available apartments can help you know if you should pursue the community further.

Do you have the capacity to handle an upcoming quick discharge?

Most assisted living communities can handle a quick discharge, but it’s important to verify this. If you choose that community, you’ll know their staff members are ready to spring into action with assessments and other tasks to prepare for the transition to assisted living after hospitalization.

What are your monthly rates?

Be sure that the community you’re looking at fits your loved one’s budget. If you aren’t sure how much the budget allows, speak with a financial advisor. 

Can I schedule a tour in the next few days?

Schedule a tour of any potential communities to get more information as soon as possible. During your call, ask if there is an opportunity to schedule a tour so you can continue your decision-making process.

Take a tour of potential senior living communities.

When possible, schedule tours back-to-back so you can maximize your time off from work. During your tours, interact with key leadership staff members, observe residents in the halls and in programs, check out the menu options and event calendar, and get a good feel for the environment and culture.

Make these key observations:

• Cleanliness: Is the community clean, well-kept, and cared for?
• Resident appearances and interactions: Are residents well cared for, happy, and interacting with one another?
• Team interactions: Are caregivers interacting genuinely with residents and one another?
• Community activities: Are there events occurring? Are residents gathering with one another in community spaces?
• Welcoming atmosphere and vibrant lifestyle: Does it feel good in the community? Are residents active, happy, and participating in community life?
• Amenities and services: Are the services and amenities available at the community beneficial?

When possible, involve your family member in the decision-making process by having them tour communities along with you via video chat. You can also bring them brochures and information packets so they can advocate for their needs and preferences.

Make the decision while supporting your family member emotionally.

While this process is quite stressful for you, it’s also quite stressful and jarring for your family member. 

Acknowledge and understand your family member’s emotional journey.

Your family member may push back on moving to a community, express sadness about moving out of their home with little warning, or even become angry at the situation. All of these feelings are valid. 

A fast hospital or skilled nursing discharge schedule doesn’t allow for months of working through the emotions and getting the mental health support they might need. However, you can still offer them support as they process the emotions they’re experiencing.

Reach out to mental health professionals and the senior living community.

Talk to the discharge planner about scheduling social work visits for your family member. Then, ask the assisted living community you choose if they can make every effort to provide extra support to your loved one through resident welcome events and support groups. Finally, consider scheduling regular visits with a therapist who has experience with senior transitions. You can coordinate transportation through the senior living community or ask if the therapist does house calls.

Once you have decided on a senior living community, a representative from the team will likely come to visit your family member while they are in the hospital or skilled nursing facility. This is a crucial step that begins the relationship-building process and allows the staff members to get to know your family member and their needs.

The senior living community will then become a part of the discharge planning team and guide you and your family through any necessary preparations before the move and help you get ready for moving day.

Prepare for moving day and beyond.

Moving day can be stressful, especially because you will be in charge of getting the furniture and other items from your family member’s home before they arrive from the hospital. 

Hire helping hands, if possible.

Work closely with your senior living community to find moving companies that have experience working with older adults. This can make the process easier and help with the heavy lifting. Remember, you don’t need to take everything out of the house and prepare to sell the house at this time. Instead, you just need to prepare the assisted living apartment and ensure it feels welcoming and cozy and is filled with furniture, art, and other treasured items.

Know what to expect after the move.

The first day at a senior living community is busy, but it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. When possible, work with your family so they know what to expect on that first day and why so many team members and residents are stopping by to say hello.

Ease the transition by staying connected.

Finally, you can ease the transition to assisted living after hospitalization by spending time with your family member during the first few days in the new community. At Cedarhurst, our Pair to Prepare™ program invites new residents to have a family member spend the first few days and nights by their side. This can make the transition more successful for both the resident and their family member. 

You can also encourage other family members and friends to connect with your family member during their first few months in the community. Try creating a calendar so your family member can expect and look forward to check-ins from certain people on certain days. 

Feel more confident about your next steps.

Navigating a transition to assisted living from hospitalization can feel overwhelming, but support is available every step of the way. For more guidance in choosing the right assisted living community, explore our guide, 5 Steps to Choosing the Right Senior Living Community. 

This post was originally published in September 2023 and updated in March 2025.