Long-Term Care: Nursing Homes, Assisted Living, and Home Health Services on the Web

LongTermCareLiving.com is a site run by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living. This page has a short overview of the basic services that nursing homes provide. Use the “next” link at the end of the article to learn more about finding a facility and what to expect when visiting a nursing home.

MedlinePlus has a directory where you’ll find an overview of nursing home facilities, nursing home news, and a reference shelf that discusses nursing home law and policy, and more. Nursing home care statistics and a long-term care glossary are also available.

Medem is an online medical library that has a succinct definition of assisted living, along with examples of services provided.

The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) also teaches consumers about assisted living facilities, elaborating more on the lifestyle of older adults who live there than on how the facilities differ from nursing homes. A video shows the services provided by assisted living facilities. A consumer checklist can help you make an educated decision about whether the facility meets your needs. This site often uses videos to help educate consumers, in addition to the written content.

The Alzheimer's Association “CareFinder” helps you make arrangements for someone with Alzheimer's disease by showing you how to take care of financial and legal matters as soon as possible. Support resources and care options are also discussed. Once you've developed a good understanding of what's available, use the interactive “CareFinder” tool to locate and evaluate Alzheimer's care for you or your relative.

The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information is primarily a source for those who are planning for their future long-term care needs while they aren't "in a crunch." You'll learn the benefits of planning ahead for your care, and what arrangements you should make while you are still able. Predicting how much care a person could require years from now isn't easy, but the National Clearinghouse gives you some estimates to help you anticipate what you might need in terms of assistive services.

The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging teaches you how to "Plan Today for a Better Tomorrow" and take care of yourself in your later years.

LongTermCareLiving.com offers how-to manuals about choosing, planning for, and paying for long-term care. You'll also learn how to write an "advance directive," which is broken down into living wills and a medical power of attorney. This allows you to dictate your wishes in the event you ever become unable to make decisions yourself.

Aging Parents and Elder Care helps you determine what type of care you or your loved one can afford, whether short-term or long-term, and discusses the payment options available for nursing home care, along with factors you should consider when choosing a facility. A checklist with an extensive list of questions you should ask when selecting a facility is also provided.

AARP The Magazine provides 10 tips about selecting a nursing home, as recommended by Karen Westerberg Reyes, a volunteer long-term care ombudsman. Learn what questions to ask nursing home administrators, what parts of the facility you should personally inspect, and what you should expect not to see in nursing homes, such as residents whose privacy or dignity is not respected.

AARP also has a three-page checklist to print out and take to each nursing home you visit. Questions include staff- to- patient ratios, residents’ activities, and whether the food served looks good.

Medicare.gov has an extensive searchable database of nursing homes that includes details on each facility, such as whether it participates in the Medicare and Medicaid programs, how long it has been certified, and its type of ownership (government, for-profit, non-profit). Search by city, county, state, or zip code to find a list of facilities near you. Click on two or more facilities and hit “Next Step” at the bottom of the page to learn how many residents each home has, and the total number of health and fire deficiencies. It seems this site can tell you almost everything you need to know about a particular nursing home.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published a list of nursing homes in its Special Focus Facility initiative, which is designed to help centers fix serious problems. Nursing homes are often cited during the federal agency's frequent inspections. The facilities on this list, though, have a pattern of problems over a long time, more deficiencies than the average nursing home, or problems that are more serious.

LongTermCareLiving.com has a check list of what to look for in assisted living centers, including a “Final Checklist Prior to Signing the Service Contract” near the bottom of the page.

Eldercare.gov has an “Eldercare Locator,” which is a database of local senior organizations that can help you find assisted living facilities in your area.

Total Living Choices has a searchable database of centers throughout the country. Search by your payment method (not every center takes Medicare or Medicaid) and whether an Alzheimer’s care center is needed. The results generally consist of a facility name, address and contact number. This site requires you to register before receiving results but it only asks for your email address, date of birth, and gender.

New LifeStyles Online is a series of senior housing guides published around the country. Conduct a free search for assisted living centers by state or zip code. The results sometimes include a link to a facility site, if it’s available, or just a name, address and phone number. This site asks for but doesn’t require registration before viewing the results, and it contains narration for each page, which you might find helpful or annoying. If you find it the latter, mute your computer or use controls on the right side of the page.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site discusses the problem of residents falling in nursing homes, common causes of a fall, the severity of the injuries resulting from falls, and ways to prevent residents from becoming injured in a nursing home.

MemberoftheFamily.net has compiled a directory of approximately 16,000 Medicare/Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the United States. The site features a “Nursing Home Watch List” to help you be aware of nursing homes cited for safety violations or complaints in the past. The "Nursing Home Information & Registry" page provides government surveys of nursing homes, with color-coded categorization of the severity of violations and harm done to residents.

The Joint Commission allows you to submit complaints online about Joint Commission-accredited health care organizations. Read this page carefully to see whether the Commission can handle your complaint (payment disputes and billing issues are not addressed here), and learn how the Commission will handle your complaint if it is accepted.

The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information has a page on who pays for care, including a chart that breaks down the types of facility and the types of payment: Medicare, private Medigap Insurance, Medicaid and out-of-pocket. There’s also an interactive map you can use to determine the cost of long-term care near you.

Nursing Home INFO , the Web site of a financial and Internet marketing consulting firm specializing in the senior care industry, summarizes payment options available for seniors looking for a care facility. The section about private pay patients is worth reading, especially since the law requires most people to use up their personal savings before Medicaid coverage kicks in. The information about “Life Settlements” at the end of the section is an ad, not part of the article.

Medicare.gov , the official Web site of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains a variety of things about nursing homes and long-term care, including the types of care Medicare will cover. A PDF booklet about Medigap, which pays for aspects of health care that Medicare does not, is also available.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have a 48-page booklet that explains what Medicare does and does not cover at nursing homes.

BenefitsCheckUp , an online service of the National Council on Aging, helps you search for and enroll in insurance programs on the federal, state, and local levels to obtain help paying for prescription drugs, health care, and other necessities. The site also has more than 250 forms and fact sheets if you already know in which program you’re interested.

The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information has a page on private financing, with links to pages that explain long-term care insurance, annuities, and other options. There’s also a table that outlines what choices are better for younger and older people.  

LongTermCareLiving.com has a long guide to coping with your move. Topics addressed include “What To Bring To Your New Home,” and “Making the Emotional Transition.” There’s also advice and Dos and Don’ts for friends and family members. Another page debunks myths about living in nursing homes, such as “I will not be able to make my own decisions,” and “Husbands and wives must live apart in a nursing facility.”

Nursing homes: how to bridge the transition from home offers suggestions about making nursing home residents more comfortable. Though the author isn’t an expert in elder care, he or she has cared for elderly parents and offers helpful advice gained from personal experience. Learn how to keep your relative feeling involved in family events and find suggestions about making a nursing home or assisted living quarters feel more like home. Another article is provided about how a nursing home resident may change over time.

LongTermCareLiving.com has a guide that takes relatives through the first 30 days after a loved one has been admitted to long-term care.

Encyclopedia.com has a Nursing Homes magazine article that explains how nurses and other medical professionals can help the elderly become more comfortable with living in a nursing home. This article is about 10 years old but the advice still seems applicable today.

Answers4Families.org offers "When You are Faced with the Nursing Home Decision," which helps caregivers learn to accept their decision to place a relative into a nursing home, and discusses the emotions caregivers might experience when their responsibilities change. The article particularly emphasizes that care giving changes when someone enters a nursing home, but the responsibility is never completely gone.

CareGuide@Home contains advice about caring for an elderly or sick person at home. You'll learn how to determine the level of home care required for an individual, how to adapt your home to meet the needs of Alzheimer's and dementia patients, and how to hire a home care worker. For those who feel like home care has become too difficult, the site also offers help with making the decision to obtain residential care for someone. Though the site is run by a home health care agency, the advice doesn’t seem to push a particular service or product.

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice has articles that address topics such as, “What types of services do providers deliver?” and “Who pays for home care services?” The Association also has a home care agency locator to help you find services nearby.

CarePathways.com is primarily devoted to those caring for elderly individuals at home. The site is maintained by registered nurses who provide care to senior citizens and their families. Helpful hints and resources about meeting the demands of home care, finding and hiring professional caregivers, obtaining home care supplies, and convincing parents they should obtain home help are discussed here.

Meals On Wheels Association of America has thousands of affiliated organizations delivering meals to seniors each weekday across the country. Find a local Meals On Wheels program, then call to learn more about eligibility. Some programs do have waiting lists.

USA Today offers statistics about the number of people living in nursing homes, noting that the nursing home population is actually declining. According to this article, the number of seniors moving to assisted living facilities or receiving care from their children is on the rise. This article also links to a series of stories about role reversal, or children caring for their parents.

Helpguide explains the purpose of adult day care, sometimes called respite care. It’s exactly what it sounds like: the person who needs care is supervised for a few hours while they do activities and socialize. Meanwhile the caregiver receives a break. In other situations, a person is hired to watch the relative at home for a few hours, or even overnight. If you're wondering how to choose a facility, this article can help you review your options. A link is also provided to an adult day care center locator.

USA Today presents a series of stories about family caregivers, the emotional toll of caring for the elderly at home, managing work and care giving schedules, and preparing for the financial costs of home care. Scroll down to the sections titled "Get Answers to your Elder Care Questions," "How Families Cope," and the "Week-Long Series" for personal and professional advice.

The National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) is a support resource for people who care for relatives that are disabled, elderly, or chronically ill. The NFCA aims to improve the lives of caregivers and provides links to several other resources that caregivers can use to make their tasks at home easier. You'll also learn about “proactive caregiving," which involves, among other things, caring for your own health and believing in your abilities.

I Care For You is a collection of stories about family caregivers and their efforts to care for loved ones. Stories about parents caring for sick children, children caring for parents, and spouses helping one another are included here. This site lends support and a feeling that although your personal situation may indeed be difficult, you don't have to cope by yourself.

The Washington Post reports that a few employers are reaching out to workers caring for elderly parents by providing both child day care and adult day care services. Workers worried about elderly relatives are less productive on the job, the article notes. Helping an employee by caring for their elderly family members can increase job performance.

AARP The Magazine has an online guide for care givers. Articles include “Caring for the Caregiver,” and worksheets to help children track their parents’ important documents, monthly income and expenses. There are also links to message boards where caregivers can discuss the issues they face. Registration is required to post to the boards but it’s free.