Steps to Choosing a Nursing Home and How to Spot Nursing Home Abuse

It’s one of the most difficult moments between a parent and child –admitting the parent to a nursing home. It’s the acknowledgement that your mother, father, uncle, or other loved one will require some form of assistance for the rest of their life. Selecting the best nursing home for your loved one is crucial. You don’t want to put them in a home where they will be neglected, uncomfortable, or even denied necessary care when their monetary resources run low.

Over two-thirds of nursing home residents receive help from Medicaid, so your first step is to become aware of Medicaid eligibility rules. Even someone with ample resources may want to consider a Medicaid-certified facility. Medicaid-certified homes are evaluated annually, and federal law doesn’t allow Medicaid-certified nursing homes to deny necessary services if their resources deplete enough to meet Medicaid eligibility standards.

Second, if the person has any special needs, such as dementia or respiratory therapy, make sure the home you are choosing has facilities for those needs.

Third, check Nursing Home Compare or a similar source for key quality measures such as infection control, pain treatment, depression, mobility, etc.

The last step is to visit the facility with a checklist of everything you want to see or know. This may include care plans, medication protocol, emergency procedures, and billing.

The best way to avoid choosing the wrong nursing home is by looking past a facility’s outward appearance.

But even a thorough inspection of the facility can fail to recognize certain problems, such as neglectful staff on particular work shifts. This is why it is very important to visit your loved one and check in on how the staff is treating them. If you detect an adverse change or your loved one complains of not receiving adequate treatment, consult with a lawyer right away. Your loved one may be the victim of nursing home abuse and action needs to be taken to right this wrong.