CHOOSING A NURSING HOME

Choosing a nursing home for a family member can be a challenging and exhausting process. Insurance providers may offer coverage at certain facilities, and you should contact your insurance company directly. The online resources are also available to help guide your decisions:

Leading Age is a non-for-profit organization that provides information about aging services.

Organizations like the Informed Patient Institute (IPI), an independent nonprofit organization that provides credible online information about health care quality and patient safety for consumers, rates the usefulness of online doctor, hospital, and nursing home report cards. IPI doesn’t rate individual health facilities or practitioners — but they tell you who does.

Medicare.gov has a site devoted to information about nursing homes. An interactive tool allows patients to compare nursing homes. Information is provided about payment and patient rights, along with a nursing home checklist. You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

U.S. News and World Report offers an article on how to choose a good nursing home along with its rankings of some of the best nursing homes in the country.

The for-profit UCompare Health Care website offers some advice for selecting senior living options and a report card of nursing homes, which you can search by state or name.

Original Post by the Center for Advancing Health. Updated by the GW Cancer Institute January 2016.