There may come a time when you will need to place your loved
one in a nursing home for long-term care. The process can be overwhelming with
so many nursing homes to choose from.
Luckily, there are many resources available to the consumer, including
the expertise of a Los Angeles elder
abuse attorney, to help guide you in your decision as to which nursing home
to place your loved one and fits your needs. A Los Angeles elder abuse attorney who specializes in nursing litigation
will be familiar with which nursing homes are involved in the most lawsuits,
and which has good or bad reputations.
To search for a nursing home in a particular area, the
following websites allows you to search for nursing homes by zip codes, cities,
or counties:
The Center for Medicare Services has created a Five-Star
Quality Rating System to assist consumers in selecting a nursing home. On the Medicare.gov website, each nursing
home has a star rating between 1 and 5 stars.
The highest star a nursing home can be given is 5 stars, with 5
indicating that the nursing home is well above average in quality. The 5-star rating system is based on how well
the nursing home scores in each of the following categories: Health
Inspections, Staffing, and Quality Measures.
The health inspection rating is based on how many citations
and deficiencies were issued to the nursing home by the state licensing agency
on both standard surveys and complaint surveys over the last 3 years. In the State of California, the licensing
agency that governs nursing homes in California is the California Department of
Public Health.
The staffing rating is based on the number of direct patient
care hours on average are provided to each resident each day. In the State of
California, the minimum nursing hours per patient per day is 3.2 hours. A
nursing home who has residents with higher acuity needs, or requires more
nursing care, needs more nursing staff above the 3.2 hours per patient per day,
in order to care for the needs of all their residents.
The last factor in the 5-star rating system is the quality
measure rating. The quality measure rating is based on 9 different clinical
measures for nursing home residents. The quality measure provides information
on how well the nursing home is caring for the resident’s physical and clinical
needs.
Although the 5-star rating system is helpful, it is not a
substitute for going in and talking to the Administrator or Director of
Nursing, and touring the facility for yourself.
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