Ensuring Quality Care in Long-Term Care Facilities

 

The decision to place your family member in a long-term care facility - whether nursing home or adult care home (assisted living)- is often a difficult one. One of the primary concerns is about whether or not your family member will get loving quality care in a safe environment. Using a checklist (nursing home or adult care home) is useful and can provide a lot of information. Knowing how facilities are regulated and inspected is also valuable information to have before selecting a home.

 

Regulations may vary from state to state. Additionally, the agency(s) responsible for quality assurance may differ. Your Ombudsman Program will be able to guide you.

Residents' Rights, however, are basically the same nationwide. The National Ombudsman Program is well versed in the area of patient Residents' Rights and is a helpful resource to ensure basic rights are honored.

 

 

Our family members in long-term care facilities tend to be our most vulnerable family members. We need to understand what their rights are as facility residents and we need to ensure that those rights are met.

Check with your Area Agency on Aging and/or your Ombudsman Program to find out what rules and regulations govern long-term facilities in your state. Knowledge is power. Knowledge can help ensure proper quality care. Your caregiving role does not end with your family member enters a long-term care facility. They are still depending on you.

 

 

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