How to Fight a Nursing Home Discharge
Once a resident is settled in a nursing home, being told to leave can be very traumatic. Nursing homes are required to follow...
Read moreWhile residents of nursing homes have no fewer rights than anyone else, the combination of an institutional setting and the disability that put the person in the facility in the first place often results in a loss of dignity and the absence of proper care.
As a result, in 1987 Congress enacted the Nursing Home Reform Law that has since been incorporated into the Medicare and Medicaid regulations. In its broadest terms, it requires that every nursing home resident be given whatever services are necessary to function at the highest level possible. The law gives residents a number of specific rights:
Nursing Home Myths and Realities |
|
Myth |
Reality |
Medicaid does not pay for the service you want. |
Medicaid residents are entitled to the same service as other residents. |
Only staff can determine the care you receive. |
Residents and family have the right to participate in developing a care plan. |
Staff cannot accommodate individual schedules. |
A nursing home must make reasonable adjustments to honor residents' needs and preferences. |
You need to hire private help. |
A nursing home must provide all necessary care. |
Restraints are required to prevent the resident from wandering away. |
Restraints cannot be used for the nursing home's convenience or as a form of discipline. |
Family visiting hours are restricted. |
Family members can visit at any time of day or night. |
Therapy must be discontinued because the resident is not progressing. |
Therapy may be appropriate even if resident is not progressing; Medicare may pay even without current progress. |
You must pay any amount set by the nursing home for extra charges. |
A nursing home may only require extra charges authorized in the admission agreement. |
The nursing home has no available space for residents or family members to meet. |
A nursing home must provide a private space for resident or family councils. |
The resident can be evicted because he or she is difficult or is refusing medical treatment. |
Being difficult or refusing treatment does not justify eviction. |
Source: "Twenty Common Nursing Home Problems and the Laws to Resolve Them" by Eric Carlson, J.D. Originally published in Clearinghouse Review Journal of Poverty Law and Policy, January/February 2006 39(910):51933 |
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