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10 Tips for Choosing a Nursing Home
Choosing a nursing home for a loved one is an important and difficult decision. Below are some general tips that will help you make an informed decision about long-term care.
1. Find out about nursing homes in your local area. To begin your search for a quality nursing care facility, call the Eldercare Locator hotline at 1-800-677-1116. This group will put you in touch with your local Agency on Aging, which can provide you with a comprehensive list of long-term care facilities in your geographical area.
2. Ask people you know about their experiences with nursing homes. When choosing a nursing home, ask those you trust if they've had any personal experiences-positive or negative-with nursing homes in your area. These might include family, friends, neighbors, a physician, or clergy.
3. Choose a facility close to home. In your search for a nursing home, start with facilities located closest to family members who are directly involved in the resident's care. Being in close proximity to loved ones ensures more frequent visits for the elderly resident. These frequent (and often unannounced) visits not only lead to a happier stay for the patient; they tend to keep staff "on their toes" and result in a higher quality of care. Additionally, relatives and friends who live close enough to visit often are in a better position to monitor the resident's physical and mental well-being and respond quickly to any emergencies.
4. Compare facilities in your area. Using Medicare's Nursing Home Compare tool, you can review the latest government data on long-term care facilities in your area. The site allows you to search for nursing homes based on location and then view various categories of information, including inspections, staffing levels, type of ownership, facility size and quality measure data. Combined, all of these characteristics will give you a reasonable first impression of what each facility is like.
5. Speak to your local long-term care ombudsman. An ombudsman is an advocate for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in your state or county. He or she is responsible for educating consumers about long-term care facilities, policies and residents' rights as well as investigating complaints regarding the quality of care. While they aren't allowed to make specific facility recommendations, your local ombudsmen can help you piece together various sources of information so that you can make an educated decision on a facility. To get contact information for your long-term care ombudsman, call the National Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) at 202-332-2275.5. Speak to your local long-term care ombudsman. An ombudsman is an advocate for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in your state or county. He or she is responsible for educating consumers about long-term care facilities, policies and residents' rights as well as investigating complaints regarding the quality of care. While they aren't allowed to make specific facility recommendations, your local ombudsmen can help you piece together various sources of information so that you can make an educated decision on a facility. To get contact information for your long-term care ombudsman, call the National Coalition for Nursing Home Reform (NCCNHR) at 202-332-2275.
6. Check staffing information. Staffing levels at a nursing care facility are often directly linked to the quality of care there. To compare staffing levels between facilities, check out Medicare's Nursing Home Compare website. For each facility you review, note the number of Certified Nursing Assistance (CNA) staffing hours. CNAs are responsible for almost all of the hands-on resident care at any nursing home. Also, seek facilities that show high employment of Registered Nurses (RNs). Research shows that RN involvement has a positive impact on nursing home care. You may also wish to visit facilities of interest and ask both the staff and families of residents about the numbers of staff present on each shift.
7. Make multiple, unannounced visits to facilities of interest. Be sure to make multiple visits to any nursing care facilities you're considering prior to making your decision. By showing up without an appointment, you'll get a more realistic view of how the facility is run on a day-to-day basis. Upon arrival, ask for an administrator or other person of authority to give you a tour. Be wary of what's going on around you. Are call lights responded to promptly? Are the individual rooms, hallways and meal tables clean and tidy? Is the interaction among staff and residents pleasant and respectful? Do you smell any foul odors such as urine or feces as you walk around? Are physical restraints used on any of the residents, and if so, why? If it makes sense, you might even bring the prospective resident along on visits to gain insight into their feelings about a facility. The Medicare website provides a handy checklist which you can use to rate your visits, found here.
7. Review state inspection reports. Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities must make their most recent state inspection report (also known as Form 2567) available to the public. This survey, produced from unannounced visits by state inspectors, contains information on sanitary conditions, care issues, and compliance with Federal health and safety requirements. When you read these reports, be sure to weigh the seriousness of each problem and find out how any deficiencies have been corrected. The Consumer Reports website offers excellent guidance on how to read and understand Form 2567.
8. Investigate costs and methods of payment. There are very few people who can afford to pay privately for their nursing home care on an ongoing basis. Unless you're absolutely certain that a resident can fund their stay indefinitely with their own assets, it's important to choose a nursing home that accepts Medicare and/or Medicaid payment. Medicare covers post-hospital rehabilitation care and hospice services for short-term stays. For those who are eligible, Medicaid finances nursing home care for extended periods of time. Be sure to get in writing the facility's payment policy once Medicare reimbursements and private funds are depleted. Your long-term care ombudsman can provide additional information about residents' rights when paying for their nursing home care through Medicaid.
10. Ask about JCAHO accreditation. When researching potential nursing homes for your loved one, find out if each facility is accredited by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). If the nursing home has been given the "seal of approval" by JCAHO, it means that it has met with strict standards of care set forth by the organization. To find out which long-term care facilities in your area have received this accreditation, visit www.jcaho.org and select "Quality Check."
Resources
http://www.canhr.org/factsheets/fs_howtochoose.htm
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/health/embedded_sb.html
http://www.nccnhr.org/uploads/NhConsumerGuide.pdf
http://www.feddesk.com/freehandbooks/1216-4.pdf