How to get your parents the best care in a nursing home or skilled nursing facility

Attorney Tom Olsen: I am joined in the studio now by Attorney Robert Hidock. Robert, welcome to the show.

Attorney Robert Hidock: Thanks for having me this morning, Tom.

Tom: Robert, tell the listeners what they might call you about today.

Robert: My clients are typically ones that have somebody that's facing either having to go to a skilled nursing facility or they're looking for home healthcare and they're trying to find a way to either pay for it or have the state pay for it so we can protect the assets for them.

Tom: Robert, that's a great service and we have a lot of clients taking us up on that service. The bottom line is we're talking about Medicaid paying for somebody's nursing home. You and I recently found out that something like 60% of all patients in nursing homes these days are on Medicaid.

Robert: Yes. Actually, we visited a a rehab center, skilled nursing center a couple weeks ago, and 98% of their beds were Medicaid beds.

Tom: Wow.

Robert: Not that they were designated, but they were filled with Medicaid patients as such.

Tom: Well, we want to make it clear to the listeners too that if you work in a nursing home, a skilled nursing facility, staff, and they don't know who's a Medicaid patient, who's a private pay, everybody's getting the equal amount of care.

Robert: Yes. It's against HIPAA violation. Floor staff, doctors, nurses, nurses aide, they don't know who's private pay and who's Medicaid. I think, Tom, people have this perception out there that, oh, there's nursing homes that are Medicaid nursing homes and that's all there is and that's all that's going to be and it's looked down upon, but that's not really true. There is not one facility that is strictly all Medicaid.

There are all facilities that accept private pay and Medicaid, and you get the benefit of not knowing who's private pay, who's Medicaid. You get all good treatment, but honestly, Tom it really comes down to having somebody come and seeing them, visiting them, so the floor staff knows that somebody cares about them, and amazingly, they get better attention. Sad, but true.

Tom: I want to make that very clear to people because they're concerned about mom or dad. If they have to go into a nursing home, they're concerned that mom and dad, they want to have them get great care and to get that great care, it doesn't matter whether they're a Medicaid patient or a private pay patient. The secret to getting great care for your mom and dad in a nursing home, I want to make you very clear to them, what is that, Robert?

Robert: To go see them, to be present. I'm going to make this suggestion, if you have somebody that's in rehab and they're going to skilled nursing, find the facility that's closer to your home so it's easier for you to get there. Not one that's 45 minutes away or an hour away that you can come up with every excuse in the world not to go see them. Granted, it's not the most fun experience walking through a nursing home sometimes, but it means wonders to the person that you're going to see, that they're not abandoned, that they're not forgotten. I think that speaks volumes and part of their recovery as well.

Tom: When the staff see that the kids are coming to visit mom and dad on a regular basis, naturally they're going to get better care for mom and dad in that situation.

Robert: They do. I can tell you when I was there with my-- When my grandmother was in the facility, my mom and I were pretty vigilant about a schedule that we kept. It was grandma's birthday and they actually threw a party for her. Her occupational therapist got a cake. They all sang happy birthday to her. My grandmother looked like she was queen for the day in there.

Tom: Robert, the last I heard, it may still be true, but that is every nursing home, skilled nursing facility in Central Florida, as far as we know, they all have Medicaid beds available except for who?

Robert: Yes, the Mayflower does not, but everyone else does. Westminster, great facility, they have Medicaid beds. Again, it's that misconception of, "Oh, these facilities are bad, they're Medicaid facilities," and that's just not true.

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