We recently reported on the declining quality rating at the majority our nation’s nursing homes. With these troubling statistics, and the rising rate of injuries to nursing home patients, how does one know how to find the best nursing home for a loved one?
Fortunately, with a little homework and the use of convenient tools on the internet, you can investigate a nursing home before even meeting with them. First, find the nursing homes in your area. For Ohio residents, the Ohio Department of Health has a convenient tool located here to help find the nursing homes in your area. You can also find a list of local nursing homes through the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) website here.
Once you have located the nursing homes in your area, talk to friends and family members to see if they have had any experience with any local nursing homes, and speak with your doctors to see if they have any recommendations.
After narrowing your list down, compare the quality of each nursing home by using Medicare’s Nursing Home Compare tool, found here. Ohio residents can see a list of nursing homes by county with quality ratings for each facility here.
After reviewing the ratings, and narrowing your choices down a little more, schedule a visit with the nursing home to see what it’s like and to get some questions answered. During your visit, you should ask your guide questions related to quality of life, quality of care, availability, staffing, religious/cultural accommodations, food and dining, languages spoken, resident policies and procedures, security, preventive care, hospital arrangements, licensing, certification, services offered, fees and charges, safety inspection reports, and resident satisfaction. Some sample questions to ask during your visit can be found in the “Your Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home or Other Long-Term Care”, which you can download by clicking on the link. It would also be helpful for you to take the Nursing Home Checklist with you to your visits, which can be downloaded here.
After educating yourself about the nursing homes in your area, the final step is to choose the nursing home you are most comfortable with and that meets your needs, both medical and personal. Discuss your needs with friends, family members, and your doctors. Let them know what nursing homes you have visited and are considering. Get their input to help you make a final decision. Once you have made the decision, the next step is to contact the facility to being the admission process.
We hope that you have found this information useful in selecting a nursing home that is right for you. But even when you have done everything you can to find the best facility for you or a loved one, a patient can still be a victim of nursing home negligence. If you or a loved one has been injured or died while a resident of a nursing home, and you feel that substandard care by the facility is to blame, contact the medical malpractice attorneys at Lafferty Gallagher &Scott, LLC today. The law only provides a limited amount of time for you pursue a nursing home negligence claim, so don’t wait to find out it’s too late. We have handled hundreds of nursing home negligence cases, and will work diligently to get you and your family the compensation they deserve. We can be reached Monday through Friday 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM by telephone at 419-241-5500 or you can contact us 24 hours a day, seven days a week through our website, www.lgslaw.net
The information contained in this blog post is general information, and should not be treated as legal advice. No attorney/client relationship exists between the reader and Lafferty, Gallagher & Scott, LLC without a signed Attorney Contract Agreement of Representation. Each case is unique and past results should not be treated as a guarantee of the results in your case.