Nursing home laws can be pretty difficult to understand. Choosing the right nursing home... http://pabianrussell.blogspot.com/2012/12/understanding-nursing-home-laws.html

1. Understanding Nursing
Home Laws
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2. Understanding Nursing
Home Laws
 Nursing home laws can be pretty difficult to understand.
Choosing the right nursing home for your spouse, a parent
or family member can surely be one of the hardest – and
most crucial – decisions you ever have to make. After all,
we’re talking about your family, so you certainly want to
make sure that the nursing home they are going to enter
is the right one for them.
Nursing homes provide personal care, medical services,
rehabilitative care and recreation in a supervised and
(hopefully) safe environment. Your involvement won’t end
when your spouse or loved one enters a nursing home;
you are going to assume a very important new role to
make sure the nursing staff provides proper care.

3. Medicare & Nursing
Home Laws
 Before you start your search for the right home, you
should first do some research so that you thoroughly
understand nursing home laws. Learning these laws will
surely help you with this tough decision.
Most people think that Medicare will pay for your loved
ones nursing home care. Unfortunately this is not the
case. Medicare will only pay for a limited amount of your
loved ones care in a nursing home. First, the patient must
stay in an inpatient hospital for 3 days consecutively prior
to being admitted to a nursing home. Also, the patient’s
condition in which they were treated for must be the same
that they are admitted into the nursing home for.

4. Starting your Search
 After you have done some research or spoke with someone and
you are now at least a little more familiar with nursing home
laws, then it’s time to ask some questions:
◦ Talk with other family members and friends and ask for help
or see if they happen to be familiar with a good nursing home
◦ Communicate with nurses, doctors, and other health
professionals who will be caring for your loved one and ask
them about their procedures and policies
◦ Talk with nursing home employees (besides doctors and/or
nurses) since they are going to be the ones spending the
most time with your loved ones and giving most of the care
◦ Talk with your loved one who will be living in the nursing
home and help them adjust to the major change that is about
to take place
◦ Also, talk with the long term care ombudsman. He or she
represents the patient’s who live in the nursing homes. They
investigate any possible problems and/or complaints, and
should be a great source of information for you.

5. Medicaid eligibility varies state by
state, so if you have a loved one
that is going to need care in the
future, start gathering information
as soon as possible. Learning early
about nursing home laws will assist
you in making the right decisions
when it is time.