Choosing a Nursing Home: Where to Begin
Realizing that a loved one needs more care than you can provide is a difficult time families face every day. Frequently, the decision to place a loved one in a nursing home happens quickly, perhaps after a traumatic event. I think many people do not realize they have access to so much information on the nursing homes near them.
A good starting place is the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Website. Here, you will find general information on nursing home resident rights, information about how to pay for nursing home care and other tools on what to look for in a nursing home. You'll also find the "Nursing Home Compare" interactive tool, which enables you to search for nursing homes near you and compare them to others.
CMS gathers data from State Department of Health Surveys and the nursing home itself and then comes up with a rating system. As the site indicates, "more stars are better."
You can ask yourself if this is a place that you would feel comfortable in. And here are a few things to look for and some questions to ask:
- Does staff seem attentive and patient . . . or rushed and overworked?
- Has the facility ever been cited for understaffing during an inspection?
- Do the residents get to choose when to get up in the morning and when to have breakfast? How about lunch and dinner?
- Do the residents get to choose when and how to bathe? Shower or bath at your preferred time?
- Can friends and family visit anytime - day or night?
- For a more extensive list of questions to ask and what to look for in a nursing home, download the Medicare Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home.
My suggestion is to concentrate on nursing homes near you. Make a list of potential homes and visit all of them. You wouldn't buy a house without going inside! Do the same when choosing a nursing home for your loved one. And for a more extensive list of questions to ask and what to look for in a nursing home, you may find the Medicare Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home (PDF) quite helpful.
