Ask the Expert - Part 1
“I’ve found nursing facilities in my area that will take my father who has Alzheimer’s. Now how do I tell which ones are ‘quality’ homes?” – Ira
Dear Ira,
First, it is important to remember that nothing can take the place of a personal visit to the facility. There are some tips in an article I wrote called Selecting a Nursing Home that will help you know what to look for and make your own determination of whether or not it is a “quality” facility you would trust with your parent. In the near future, this site will be offering extended listings of nursing homes that will give you a better sense of what the facilities offer before you even visit them. For example, you will be able to tell which homes have special Alzheimer’s units. In addition, we will also have reviews so you can learn what other caregivers think of different facilities.
Second, take a look at the results of government nursing home inspections. Any care facility that participates in Medicare or Medicaid programs has to undergo a review by the state on a regular basis, usually every 12 to 18 months. Summaries of the results of these reviews are available on the Medicare web page at www.medicare.gov/nursing/home.asp. Here, you can find out which citations, if any, were issued against the facility at the last inspection. The site even provides easy-to-understand explanations about the severity of each citation. For example, you obviously you need to be more concerned about safety violations than you do about paperwork violations. You can compare specific facilities to the national average on a number of parameters, such as how many patients have behavioral problems or are restrained on a regular basis.
If you want even more information than is available on the Medicare site, you can call your State Health Department to get the complete survey results and also to find out about a facility’s plans to correct any problems that were found. The phone numbers can be found at www.medicare.gov/nursing/phonedirectory/direct.asp, or by looking in the blue, government pages of your phone book.
There are several Web sites claiming to provide consumer information on nursing homes. However you should know that they either use the data that is available from the Medicare site, or they interview the facilities about their own quality. Therefore, buyer beware — make sure you aren’t paying for information that is already available to you for free.
Finally, one service, which is not free, but can be well worth the money, is to meet with a case manager who has experience with the facilities you are considering. Case managers may have known many seniors and families that interacted with different facilities. They can provide a broader perspective of the facility than you can get in one or two visits, and also can offer more personal insights than the government ratings.
Having dealt with Alzheimer’s disease in my own family, as well as having managed several Alzheimer’s units, I understand the enormous burden you are dealing with. Please don’t hesitate to contact us again if we can be of further assistance — and remember that we will be offering more information as time goes on. In addition, we are also in the process of writing a special article on placement considerations just for elders with Alzheimer’s disease.
Thank you for your inquiry — check back again soon!
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