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Planning early for nursing home placement can prevent a great deal of pressure and indecision at a later date.

First Steps

Before deciding to place someone in a nursing home, try to provide services that will help maintain independence; help turn that person’s home into a safer environment by:

• removing dangerous throw rugs;
• disconnecting appliances;
• installing handrails and a shower chair;
• investigating outside services such as a home health nurse, a homemaker, meals on wheels, an emergency response system, day programs, etc.

Next, evaluate what family members can do to supplement these services. Caregivers need to be realistic about the time and effort they can contribute. Personal financial limitations also must be considered.

If remaining at home is not a possibility, consider assisted living sections of retirement homes for those who simply need minor help with remembering medication, bathing and dressing, and meal preparation. Get an assessment of how well a person functions in his or her own home. The Health Alliance offers thorough assessments with qualified geriatricians to help you make decisions.

Cost of Nursing Home Care

Medicare will pay for the first 20 days of nursing home care and part of the next 80 days if the patient meets skilled criteria; i.e., is in need of physical therapy, extensive wound care, intravenous feedings, or other conditions which involve ongoing RN observation and treatment. Medicaid also pays for nursing home care; however, the applicant must meet certain financial requirements.

In addition to long term nursing home placement, it is also becoming more common for physicians to recommend skilled nursing care for a short period of time after an acute illness. Under traditional Medicare guidelines, a three day hospital stay is required first, but most of the new Managed Medicare plans do not require a hospital stay to precede the nursing home stay. This means a patient could enter a nursing home directly from home or from an Emergency Room.

Help Yourself

• Communicate. Talk with your loved ones, friends, or a social worker about the feelings and questions that you have.
  
• Channel your efforts into selecting the best possible home available. Remember, if the home does not work out after an initial adjustment period, you can transfer to another home.
  
• Recognize the positives a home can provide. The security, structure, support and care can help you emotionally, as well as physically. Think of the added care you can get when a nursing home and family work together to support each other’s efforts.
  
• Take personal belongings to the nursing home to make the surrounding as familiar as possible.