Amy Keith McDonald Laurel Glen at Stephenville
During the past few months, I have shared information with readers about different types of senior living alternatives. We have evaluated independent living, assisted living and memory care community options. This column will address traditional nursing homes.
According to some sources, nursing homes in the United States have more than 1.7 million residents living within their walls. Since nursing homes provide medical and non-medical services around the clock, 365 days per year, you will often find a mix of individuals living there. While most are women over the age of 80 years, there are other seniors and disabled individuals as well. Most residents are generally stable, but cannot return to their home due to mobility issues and/or the need for chronic condition care.
Some nursing home residents are living there for only a short time, perhaps due to an injury or need to recover through therapy and skilled nursing services. Other residents will call the nursing home their permanent residence for years. According to www. theseniorlist.com, the median monthly cost of a nursing home semi-private room (shared with another resident) is $8,390 per month. Those residents with private rooms pay an average of $9,584 per month. Approximately 62% of residents use Medicaid as their primary payment method, followed by Medicare (13%) and then other methods like private long term care insurance payments or upfront payments (25%).
Although often used interchangeably, nursing homes may differ from skilled nursing facilities. Nursing homes usually refer to facilities that offer permanent or long-term care, while skilled nursing facilities offer temporary care for residents while they undergo necessary rehabilitative treatment. The line between the two is blurred, however, because stays in nursing homes can be temporary and stays in skilled nursing facilities may last many days.
In addition to skilled nursing services, many nursing homes provide physical, occupational and/or speech therapy. They may provide chroniccondition care and palliative care as well. You will also find a higher patient to staff ratio (more patients for each staff member) in nearly all nursing homes than in independent living or assisted living environments. Some nursing homes will have a locked unit that restricts patients from leaving, thus maintaining the individual’s safety.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 70% of nursing homes are for-profit organizations, 23.2% are nonprofits, and 6.8% are government institutions. At www.medicaid.gov, you may view information about institutional longterm care, but in short they provide hospital services and intermediate care for people with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric services for individuals under age 21 and services for people age 75 or older in an institution for mental diseases. Eligibility for Medicaid may be figured differently for these residents, and therefore access to Medicaid services may be tied to their need for institutional level of care.
When you are considering a nursing home for your loved one, I recommend you talk to friends, family and others in your area. Check the google ratings and read the reviews carefully. Visit the facilities several times, even when you are not expected. Seeing how folks are treated when no-one is watching is a telling exercise. Check out the food … is it tasty and nutritious? Above all, please do NOT procrastinate and be forced to make a decision based solely on affordability and availability.
Unfortunately, many people do wait until the last minute to plan for their senior care. With fingers crossed, they hope the long-term care situation will decide itself. Often it does, with a solitary fall that goes undetected for too long or an illness that results in someone else having to make the decision about your future. Here at my community, we have learned that if seniors evaluate and choose their future home themselves … they are picking where they will LIVE. If they wait until the decision is made for them, they are often placed somewhere where they exist. So, plan ahead. Do some research. Take some tours. Ask some friends. Find a place that will be fun for you and where you will be truly happy. Don’t be afraid to gather your facts. Be ready, because often, a decision must be made sooner than you may wish.
When it comes to paying for nursing homes and other senior living alternatives, several options exist. I will address those various methods in a future column.
Thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you. I am certainly not an expert but am learning more every day about how we can best care for our seniors and also prepare for our own future living decisions. If you have specific questions or would like me to address a certain topic in an upcoming column, please reach out to me. I will be tickled to assist.