How To Find the Right Nursing Home, Essay Example

This paper examines the steps that you need to take in order to find the right nursing home for your needs.  The particular emphasis being on best in class care. The paper considers the financial implications of care and the best means of recovering the potential costs involved. Finally, provision of advice for locating the best nursing home.

As a Senior Adult finding the right nursing home, assisted living facility or long term health care facility can be an extremely important task.  The decision can be very stressful for both the Adult and family; even more so where there is a surviving partner living alone.  The ultimate goal is to be comfortable, safe, secure, happy and a feeling of comradeship.  The decision is often made at time of serious illness or stress.  In order to minimize the social disturbance impact it is important to seek help and accomplish some research.  You will need to consult a number of people starting with your local Doctor or health practitioner. The Doctor will put you in touch with local social services people that can go through the best options in accordance with the Doctors stated medical advice.  Wherever possible get help from family or friends to research the options available.  Draw up a long list of questions and ensure that you get all of your questions answered, this becomes part of your comfort zone in getting the right place. Ensure that you visit at least several places, draw up a short list and then visit again in more detail going over all of the amenities that meets your requirements.

There are a number of key financial considerations that you will need to address: (i) Ensure any entrance fee is refundable in case you have a change of circumstances (ii) The assisted living and health care services are included and not an extra fee (iii) how does the nursing home get involved in managing the residents finances (iv) Are Medicare and Medicaid plans accepted ?  Individuals will be expected to pay for a large proportion of their nursing home costs.  Medicaid can pay for up to 45% of the fees involved for those in need of long term residential care.  Medicare, medical insurance for people age 65 and older and those on Social Security disability, accounts for only 11 percent of nursing home costs since Medicare does not pay for nursing home care for the long-term, as some people mistakenly believe.

Finally use the internet to do a good research of all the facilities in your area.  This should help in finding locations, details of the facilities, comparative analysis, other residents blogs and views on the facility, medical facilities etc. It is your double check against your visual research and will assist you in formulating additional questions.