Eldercare Research

First of all, when you’re researching any kind of eldercare scenario, it’s important to know that your state’s Department of Health likely oversees these facilities. That includes tracking what are called “reportable occurrences,” which can include thefts, abuse, neglect and such. They aren’t complaints per se, but they are things such facilities must report in a timely manner and then face state investigation. In Colorado, for example, you start here to look up these reports (as well as complaints and regular inspection records for things like fire safety). In many cases, the state will say in the report if the incident is isolated, part of a pattern, or chronic.

Using information I found in these reports, I was able to drop several facilities off our research list, which made our touring day last Tuesday much shorter. The reason some places got the boot? Rampant resident theft (money, jewelry, etc) spanning several years. Or, at one place, someone died because of poor communication between shifts. A resident’s oxygen tank needed to be refilled, and it wasn’t. This person died as a result.

Granted, things can happen just about anywhere at any time, but I was looking not only at what was reported, but what the facility management did about it. So, if I saw something of concern over a period of time, but then it stopped … I figured the administrators solved the issue, which may have meant firing people or whatever.

In fact, the place we hope to place my mom had a serious “drug diversion” problem in 2008. That just means a whole bunch of pain meds went missing. Typically, staff steal them for their own use or for sale, which for me is both an issue with quality of care and personal character. After just one incident in 2009, the problem stopped. When we met with the facility people, I flat out asked about their drug diversion issues, how they had solved it, etc. They seemed a bit surprised I’d dug around that much, but these are important decisions, so I got to speak with the place’s executive director in person.

So, that’s recommendation #1 — look (in depth) at your state department of health’s records on any facility you’re considering.

And, the second recommendation? Look up the Medicare nursing home rating. The 5-star ratings, begin with overall, but also break down into staffing, quality, health inspections, etc.

The one glitch in these Medicare ratings is that only nursing homes show up since in some cases Medicare pays for such care. With assisted living facilities (or other kinds of senior living options that are new for the Baby Boomers), those costs typically come out of a person’s wallet, not the insurance company’s. That means they often do not show up in these ratings.

There seem to be many new assisted living places out there. Most, however, do not offer a continuum of care. That means, if your elder gets worse, then you’ll be moving him or her to a new location and having to do all this research again. So, if the people you’re trying to help likely face a declining future, then it may be better to find a place that offers many levels of care at the same spot.