Your Guide To Choosing a Nursing Home or Other Long-Term Services & Supports

This informative booklet about choosing nursing homes and other types of elder care explains: 

• How to find and compare nursing homes and other long-term services and supports,
• How to pay for nursing home care,
• Your rights as a nursing home resident, and 
• Alternatives to nursing home care.

In addition, the booklet provides detailed coverage of how certain types of insurance can help, including the role of Medicare and Medicaid in the process of acquiring nursing home care or alternative types of care, as well as a Definitions section and Nursing Home Checklist.

Get a first-hand account of this book on our blog: https://govbooktalk.gpo.gov/2018/04/24/maximize-your-dollars-during-mone...

Table of Contents:

Section 1: Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Section 2: What is nursing home care? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Your care plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Your resident rights & protections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Reporting & resolving problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Section 3: How do I choose a nursing home? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Step 1: Find nursing homes in your area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Step 2: Compare the quality of the nursing homes you’re considering . . . . . 11

Step 3: Visit the nursing homes you’re interested in, or have

someone visit for you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 4: Choose the nursing home that best meets your needs . . . . . . . . . . . 15

I’ve chosen a nursing home. What should I do next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Section 4: What are my other long-term care options? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Accessory dwelling units (ADUs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Home care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Home- and community- based services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Programs of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Residential care communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Subsidized senior housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Section 5: How do I pay for nursing home care & other

long-term health care costs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Medicare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Medicaid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Long-term care insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Personal resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Section 6: Where can I get help? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Administration for Community Living (ACL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement

Organizations (BFCC-QIOs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

State Survey Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Section 7: Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Nursing home checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

People considering entering nursing homes or receiving elder care, as well as family members helping to make this choice with their elderly loved ones, will find this informative publication extremely helpful.