How Do You Choose a Nursing Home Facility?

One way to help you choose a nursing home is to go to Medicare.gov. If you go to Medicare.gov, nursing home lookup or nursing Home Compare, you can search the nursing homes that you’re considering, and a lot of folks pick nursing homes based on which are close to their house.

So if there are a couple of different options you’re considering, go to nursing home.gov, nursing Home Compare. Type in the nursing homes you’re interested in and you’ll see their 5 star rating and that 5 star rating is based on staffing levels.

It’s based on inspections by state health departments and it’s also based on quality of care. Simply speaking, five stars generally reflect a facility that’s done well in those categories. If you see 2 or 1 stars, that generally reflects the facility hasn’t done so well, and then in rare instances you might find a red hand in a stop sign, which means that facility has been flagged for elder abuse. So that’s a great place to check before you sign your mom, or your father up, or your grandparent up for a facility to make sure that they’re meeting the standards set out by federal and state regulations.