Choosing the Best Nursing Facility for Your Loved One
There are three basic steps you must take in order to find the best nursing facility for your loved one. First, you
must create a list of nursing facilities that you are interested in. You may choose to do this by asking friends
and family for recommendations, talking to your doctor, or by researching facilities in your area. Next, you’ll
begin comparing the nursing facilities on your list. Some of these options will likely drop off the list as you delve
deeper into your research. Finally, when you have a shortlist of nursing facilities that you are most interested in,
arrange a visit to each one to help you make your final determination.
Nursing Home Compare
Nursing Home Compare is an online tool that helps you find and compare nursing facilities. It has a
comprehensive database of all Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the U.S. You can search by
name (if someone you know gave you a personal recommendation, for example) or geographic location.
Nursing Home Compare also enables you to compare the quality of individual nursing facilities. The tool details:
how each nursing home scored on its most recent health inspection; nursing home staffing data; quality
measures; and fire safety inspection results.
Regular nursing facility inspections measure how a facility scores across many different areas, including nursing
care. Understanding the inspection results can be confusing if you are not familiar with how nursing facility
operate.
When a nursing facility does not meet one of the more than 150 regulatory standards set forth by Congress, the
inspection team issues a deficiency citation. These regulations cover extensive ground ranging from food safety,
to fire safety to nursing care practices. Deficiencies are not all equal. They are measured in terms of scope and
severity-that is, how many residents were affected, and how great the harm was on a scale of one to four. Keep
in mind that most nursing facilities receive deficiencies from time to time-