Discharging From Mercy Hospital, Sisters of Charity, or Kenmore Mercy: A Catholic Health Family Guide

Catholic Health's three Buffalo-area hospitals each run their own discharge planning team. Here is what families should expect and ask, step by step, when a parent is discharging into rehab, home care, or long-term placement.

By the Buffalo Senior Advisor Care Team · September 14, 2026

Catholic Health's Three Hospitals in the Buffalo Metro

Catholic Health is the faith-based hospital system serving the Buffalo area, operating Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Sisters of Charity Hospital (which includes its St. Joseph Campus), and Kenmore Mercy Hospital. Each of these hospitals runs its own discharge planning and care coordination team, so while the underlying rules that govern rehab and long-term care eligibility are the same across the system, the specific process, paperwork, and typical rehab-facility partnerships can vary depending on which Catholic Health hospital your family member is in.

Families navigating a Catholic Health discharge for the first time should treat this as three related but distinct processes rather than one uniform system-wide procedure. The single most useful thing to do at the outset is ask the specific hospital's discharge planner — not a general system phone line — what their standard process looks like for a patient in your family member's exact situation.

The Same Medicare Rule, Applied at a Faith-Based System

The federal Medicare rule that drives most hospital discharge timing applies identically at Catholic Health as it does anywhere else in the country: a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three days generally opens a window of eligibility for Medicare-covered skilled nursing rehabilitation immediately following discharge. This isn't a Catholic Health-specific policy, but it is the reason discharge planners at Mercy, Sisters of Charity, or Kenmore Mercy may move quickly to coordinate a rehab placement while the patient is still admitted.

Ask directly: has my family member had a qualifying three-day stay, is the recommended next step Medicare-covered rehab, and for approximately how long is that coverage expected to last? Getting a clear, specific answer to this question early prevents confusion later about whether a facility stay is temporary and covered, or something the family will need to pay for out of pocket from the start.

Rehab vs. Long-Term Placement — Ask Plainly

As with any hospital discharge in the Buffalo metro, it's worth asking Catholic Health's discharge planner to state clearly whether a recommended skilled nursing facility stay is meant as time-limited rehabilitation with an expected return home, or whether it's being framed as a longer-term or permanent placement. These are genuinely different conversations, and conflating them is one of the most common sources of family confusion and stress during a fast-moving discharge.

Families generally have more room to ask questions, request additional information, or ask for one more day to evaluate options than the pace of the conversation might suggest — particularly when the patient is medically stable enough to remain inpatient briefly while a better-suited placement is confirmed.

If Mercy Hospital of Buffalo Is the Discharging Hospital

Mercy Hospital of Buffalo's discharge planning team maintains its own set of typical rehab and skilled nursing referral relationships. Ask directly which facilities they most commonly refer patients to, and whether that recommendation reflects genuine clinical fit for your family member's specific recovery needs (orthopedic, cardiac, general medical, or otherwise) rather than simply which facility has an open bed on a given day. It's reasonable to ask to see options beyond the first facility named, and to independently check any recommended nursing home's current inspection record on profiles.health.ny.gov/acf and its federal quality rating on Medicare Care Compare before agreeing to a transfer.

Families discharging from Mercy Hospital of Buffalo are also free to consider facilities outside Catholic Health's own typical referral pattern — for example, Garden Gate Health Care Facility in Cheektowaga, a 184-bed skilled nursing facility with a Complex Medical Care Unit for cardiac telemetry monitoring, is independently operated by The McGuire Group and worth mentioning by name if a discharge planner hasn't already raised it as an option.

If Sisters of Charity Hospital (Including St. Joseph Campus) Is the Discharging Hospital

Sisters of Charity Hospital, including its St. Joseph Campus, follows the same general discharge framework, but families should confirm with the specific campus's care coordination team which facility they were admitted through, since Sisters of Charity operates across more than one physical campus under one hospital license. Ask the discharge planner plainly whether their facility recommendations differ between the main Sisters of Charity campus and the St. Joseph Campus, and confirm which team is actually coordinating your family member's specific discharge.

As with any Buffalo-area discharge, it's worth independently comparing a recommended nursing home against other verified options in the metro rather than accepting the first name offered — Comprehensive of Williamsville, a 142-bed facility with a dedicated Secured Unit for memory-impaired residents, is one example of an independently operated facility worth asking about if your family member's recovery involves any cognitive component alongside physical rehab needs.

If Kenmore Mercy Hospital Is the Discharging Hospital — A Local Advantage

Kenmore Mercy Hospital sits in the Village of Kenmore, which is also home to both Schofield Residence, a 120-bed nursing facility on a 5-acre landscaped site operated by the nonprofit Schofield Care (founded 1910), and Schofield Home Health Care Services, run by the same organization at the same address. Because Schofield Care operates both a nursing facility and a home health agency under one nonprofit umbrella, it can allow for coordinated step-down care — moving from hospital, to short-term rehab, to home-based support — without switching between unrelated organizations, worth asking about directly if geographic proximity and continuity matter to your family.

Staying Within the Catholic Health System After Discharge: Home Care

For families whose parent is discharging to home rather than to a facility, McAuley-Seton Home Care is part of the Catholic Health system itself, based at 144 Genesee Street in Buffalo. The operator states it is the only home care agency in Western New York with a 5-star CMS rating, and reports repeated placement in HomeCare Elite's Top 500 agencies nationwide. Because it's part of the same hospital system, using McAuley-Seton can simplify coordination for a patient discharging directly from a Catholic Health hospital into home-based care, since records and care plans may transfer more smoothly within one organization than across two unrelated ones.

That said, using an in-system home care agency is a choice, not a requirement — families are entitled to consider other licensed home health agencies serving Erie County as well, and it's reasonable to ask a discharge planner directly whether recommending McAuley-Seton reflects genuine fit for your family member's needs versus simple administrative convenience for the hospital.

Questions to Ask Before You Sign, and Who to Call If Something Feels Off

Before agreeing to any discharge plan at a Catholic Health hospital, ask: is this rehab or permanent placement; is it Medicare-covered and for how long; which specific facility or home care agency is being recommended and why; and what happens if the family wants a day or two more to evaluate options. If a family feels rushed or unheard, ask to speak with a hospital social worker or patient advocate separately from the discharge team.

Once a resident is placed in a licensed facility, the Region 15 Long Term Care Ombudsman Program (People Inc.), (716) 817-9222, is an independent advocate for concerns about care quality or resident rights — a resource worth keeping on hand regardless of which Catholic Health hospital your family member came from. For more on what happens after a rehab stay ends, see our state rules guide and cost guide.

Common Questions