Unfortunately, there are no guarantees when choosing any nursing home facility — even the very best rated facility can be found to engage in abuse or neglect.  Nonetheless, there is consumer information available to allow individuals and their family members to evaluate and compare nursing homes so that an informed decision can be made.

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services is a good place to look when considering a nursing home.  This site allows you to locate and compare nursing homes in a given area.  The information provided is based upon past inspections of the facilities.  Each facility receives an over all score of 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest possible score.  The inspection information for the facility can be reviewed in order to gather information on past violations and how the facility compares to the national and state averages on particular points, such as the average amount of skilled nursing care received by each resident per day.  The site is not the easiest to maneuver.  In order to conduct a search, click on the “Find and Compare Longterm Care Providers” link to the left of the homepage screen and then select the type of facility that you are interested in, such as “All Free-standing Nursing Homes.”  On the next page, select whether you want to search by county, city, zip code, etc. and put in your search parameters.  I suggest that you start with county searches, as these searches will allow you to compare a greater number of facilities per page in a given area.  When reviewing a nursing home’s investigation summary, be sure to click on the “Supplemental Page” and “Nursing Home Compare” links at the bottom of the nursing home’s investigation page.

Of course, gathering this information should just be the beginning of your investigation of a particular nursing home and determining whether the facility is the best place for your loved one.  You should definitely visit the facility and ask questions about how the facility is suited to meet your loved one’s particular needs.  Make certain that you also visit more than one facility so that you will have a better basis for comparing them.

 After you have selected a nursing home for your loved one and your loved one is living at the facility, be certain to visit often.  The single best way to prevent abuse and neglect is to visit often and make certain that the nursing home staff knows that you are checking in on your loved one regularly.  Talk with your loved one about the care that he or she is receiving and investigate further if your loved one gives unclear or evasive answers.  In the case of nursing home abuse, patients are frequently afraid to disclose what is happening to them.  Also, be sure to physically examine your loved one regularly.  Bed sores are a tremendous problem in nursing homes and can be deadly.  I’ve seen many cases in which the family didn’t realize that their loved one was developing a bed sore because they did not see the bed sore on their loved one’s legs or torso, which were typically covered by blankets during the family members’ visits.