GUIDE TO REHABS & NURSING HOMES
How to know if you need one, and help if you do
MOST PEOPLE WILL EVENTUALLY NEED IN-PATIENT REHAB following major surgery or broken bones such as hips. Rehab usually lasts 100 days or less and is typically covered by Medicare if it is preceded by a hospital stay of at least three days.
SOME SENIORS WILL EVENTUALLY NEED FULL-TIME SKILLED NURSING (often called long-term care or nursing home care) if they are confined to bed, have a feeding tube, or have major wounds that won’t heal. It isn’t covered by Medicare, but many facilities accept Medicaid. Seniors with less severe problems will do well in Assisted Living.
WHEN CAROL’S MOM BROKE HER HIP (the first time – she later broke the other one!) Carol asked the hospital for a suggestion on a rehab, and they sent her to a nearby one that was owned by the hospital. Carol agreed without even visiting it. If the hospital was sending her mom there, it must be good, right? Wrong. The facility was old and dilapidated, and Carol knew right away she had to find another one. After all, her Mom was going to be spending three months there!
So after talking with some friends who had been through it with their own parents, she had her mom moved to a nursing home about ten miles away. It was a little further than Carol wanted to travel, but it was clearly the right decision.
TODAY, IT’S A BIT SIMPLER TO SELECT A REHAB OR NURSING HOME. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rates just about every nursing home in the country using their 5-Star Quality Rating System. Three stars is average, but we don’t think that’s good enough for our clients.
At Ask-Carol, we set our standards high, so we only refer our clients to 4-Star or 5-Star facilities. While we aren’t in the rating business, we’ve visited quite a few nursing homes / rehabs (they are usually the same thing, but there are some rehabs that are not for long-term care) and we’ve met their administrators, admissions directors, discharge planners, or other key persons, and we’ve selected some top-rated facilities where we would send our own family members.
WE’LL SHARE OUR LOCAL LIST WITH YOU, FREE. Just fill in the CONTACT FORM at the right and in the “How Can We Help” area just type nursing home or rehab, whichever you need info on. We’ll send you our current list of Ask-Carol Approved Four Star and Five Star facilities in your immediate area that we think might be right for you. Not all facilities will be on the list, only the ones we have visited and meet our requirements.
WHY ISN’T THE LIST AT OUR WEBSITE? Nursing home ratings change and we want you to have the latest info. By the way, the list is totally free and we don’t collect any fee from you, the nursing home or rehab, nor do we accept advertising.
If we wouldn’t place our own parent in a particular Rehab, Nursing Home, or Assisted Living Facility, we won’t place anyone else’s parent there. It’s as simple as that.
Photos © 2016 CareOne http://www.care-one.com/ and published here with permission.
Nursing home ratings are prepared by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Ask-Carol does not rate facilities or guarantee that the CMS ratings shown on our listings are up-to-date, as they can change. Nursing homes are licensed by the States, many of which have a website with information about current licensing and deficiencies. Ask-Carol recommends that you check those websites before placing your family member.
