Your Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home

Key findings used in wiki

• Nursing homes provide short-term rehabilitation or skilled-nursing care after surgery or illness, and may also offer long-term care and specialized dementia care; Medicare generally covers only short-term stays (Part A covers up to 100 days after hospitalization, plus Part B and Part D for related services), while Medicaid may cover long-term nursing home care and, depending on the state, assisted living or home-and-community-based services for people who qualify.
• Before deciding, CMS recommends talking to a trusted family member, the person's health care provider, or a social worker, and visiting the nursing home to watch for signs like slow staff response, strong odors, residents calling out, or unsupervised safety risks.
• Medicare.gov/care-compare rates every Medicare-certified nursing home 1 to 5 stars on combined health-inspection, staffing, and quality-measure ratings; a facility without a star rating and flagged as a special-focus facility has a documented history of serious quality issues and faces more frequent inspections, and a separate symbol flags facilities cited for abuse.
• CMS provides a detailed visit checklist covering care planning, dementia-care-unit safety and training (including reducing antipsychotic use and preventing unsafe wandering), staffing levels, fees, activities, and resident choice over daily routines such as meals, sleep, and roommates.
• Nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid payments must comply with federal requirements, and CMS publishes a separate guide, "Your Guide to Living in a Nursing Home," covering residents' rights after a move.
• Free, personalized help choosing or evaluating a nursing home is available through each state's Office of the Long-Term Care Ombudsman (via theconsumervoice.org/get-help) and the Administration for Community Living's Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116, eldercare.acl.gov).