Lions Club hears about ways to choose a nursing home

— By Bradly Gill

Staff Writer

According to the Center for Disease Control in 2014 1.4 million Americans were residents of nursing homes and 15,600 nursing home facilities existed across the country.

Jeff Harrington, Regional Vice President of Southern Administrative, spoke to the Camden Noon Lions Club about some important steps in choosing a facility for loved ones or themselves.

” The number one question that I get asked is,’How should I go about choosing a nursing home. There are some things you should look at when you look for a nursing home, and there’s a lot of resources now that were not available, 10 years ago, 15 years ago or ,for sure, 20 years ago,” Harrington said.

Harrington said the site Medicare.gov has ratings for nursing home similar to the star ratings for hotels, one being the worst and five being the best. Every nursing home is graded on a specific set of criteria, though Harrington said some of the numbers may be a bit skewed from time to time due to a lapse in the data reported.

The overall rating is assigned based on

• Health inspections-Medicare assigns the star rating based on a nursing homes weighted score from recent health inspections. More stars mean fewer health risks

• Staffing- Medicare assigns the start rating based on the nursing home’s staff hours for Registered nurses, RN, Licensed Practice Nurse (LPSN(, Licensed Vocation Nurses (LVNS), and nurses aides. More stars mean a better level of staffing per nursing home resident.

• Quality measures - Medicare assigns the star rating based on data from a select set of clinical data measures. More stars means better quality of care.

Harrington said once a nursing home is reviewed online, it’s a good idea to visit the facility and give what he calls “the smell test.

He said, “Nursing homes had a bad rap because of the smell. I’ve got a pretty good sniffer. The number one thing when I go into the nursing homes I help with, I do the sniff test. When I was an administrator at a nursing home, the first thing I did was go around and smell. We were going to pass the smell test. I a nursing homes passes the smell test, it’s a pretty good sign the residents are being taken care of.”

Harrington also recommends conversing with staff and judging the overall morale of the facility. He said a staff that enjoys work will take care of the residents.

He also advises tempering your expectations.

“If mom is their cause she fell three times at home, chances are she’s also going to fall at the nursing home,” he said.

Harrington did say that the antiquated notion of residents strapped down and drugged for the convenience of the staff is a thing of the past and those practices are not in place anymore.

Once a facility is chosen, Harrington advises finding a method of payment. He said while Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security are available, in some cases they might not cover a stay fully. Out of pocket expenses can range anywhere from $150-300 a day depending on the location.

He said one option available is long term care insurance. Among 65-year-olds, 70% will use some form of long-term care in the years ahead, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Regular health insurance doesn’t cover long-term care. And Medicare is intended for short term stays.

Although by the year 2030 all Baby Boomers will be over than 65, Harrington said the number of nursing home residents is actually projected to fall thanks to alternatives, such as live in nurses, assisted living and cohousing among the elderly.

He ended by saying Camden is fortunate to have four nursing home facilities, as most towns of its size struggle to support even one.

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