c. Medical appropriateness

An elapsed period of more than 14 days was permitted for SNF admissions where the patient's condition made it medically inappropriate to begin an active course of treatment in an SNF within 14 days after hospital discharge, and it was medically predictable at the time of the hospital discharge that they would require covered care within a predeterminable time period. The fact that a patient entered an SNF immediately upon discharge from a hospital, for either covered or noncovered care, does not necessarily negate coverage at a later date, assuming the subsequent covered care was medically predictable.