Finding the Right Nursing Home
Selecting a competent nursing home for a loved one is one of the
most difficult
decisions a family may have to make.
While families work hard to get the best possible care for family
members, it is often difficult to avoid our loved ones falling prey
to problems such as emotional and physical abuse, or nursing home
neglect.
Neglect is frequently the result of too few health care aids and
long work shifts. There is just not enough staff to give the proper
time to care for our loved ones.
A LONG TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN , a government employee, is a good source of
information for finding out about staffing and complaints against
any particular nursing home facility .
Telephone numbers for your local long term ombudsman can be found at
http://cms.hhs.gov/
Some of the questions you should include are:
- What are the results of the latest ombudsman survey of the nursing home?
- How many outstanding complaints are there?
- How many complaints were lodged in the last year?
- What was the nature of the complaint(s)?
- What were the results of the recent investigation?
- What is the staff/resident ratio?
- How many residents are in the nursing home?
The difficult task of finding a quality nursing home
facility is made easier because of a number of resources. HCFA has enhanced
its consumer Internet resource entitled Nursing Home Compare @
www.medicare.gov
Users can research nursing home facilities by state, county or ZIP code.
Other organizations to call include The Association of Retired Persons (AARP) @
www.aarp.org or 1-800-424-3410 and the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing
Home Reform at (202)332-2275 or via the web @
www.nccnhr.org For a printed copy
of HCFA's Guide to choosing a nursing home, call the Medicare Choices Help line
at 1-800-633-4227.
Contact Us Regarding Nursing Home Negligence
Whelchel, May & Associates
10341Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN
37922
PO Box 31608, Knoxville, TN 37930-1608
Telephone (865) 588-0504
Toll Free (800) 288-5060
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