Wall St. Journal reports: Websites that Let You Compare Nursing Homes
Choosing a nursing home for a parent or other loved one can be among the most difficult decisions you’ll ever make. Not to mention, years later, is the nursing home still the best choice? How does it compare to others in the area? Nothing can replace a visit in person as a way of checking out a facility, but wouldn’t you want to know what the regulators say about a nursing home? And, wouldn’t you want to know if residents have repeatedly been in harms’ way at a nursing home?
On April 24, the Wall St. Journal reported on the variety of sources where you can find information on nursing homes (page D1 “Web Sites Expand Rating Information On Nursing Homes“. It’s interesting to note that the web sites that they listed all use the same data as is found in the federal Medicare Nursing Home Compare site (www.Medicare.gov). Some sites, such as www.HealthGrades.com charge for thier reports. I preferred the free site www.MemberOfTheFamily.net, which reports the data in a way that I believe most family members want to see, highlighting facilities with the highest frequency of violations and those that have put residents at risk. States also have their own sites, but that information is already incorporated at the Medicare site.
One caveat: only Medicare and Medicaid approved nursing homes are in the Medicare site (and, presumably, the other sites). That includes most, but not all, nursing homes. For example, here in Plymouth, MA where your trustly blogger lives, we have a private-pay-only nursing home called Newfield House.