Choosing a Facility- Section Three:

Assessing Your Needs  

What Long-Term Care (LTC) facility is right for my needs?

Every person has their own unique set of medical, physical, and psycho-social needs.  Before considering an adult family home or a boarding home (assisted living facility), it is very important to assess your needs.  A comprehensive assessment can be a useful tool in finding a facility that can meet your individual needs.  Keep in mind your current needs and what you may need in the future.

The different types of LTC facilities vary in both in the range of services they offer and the level of training and experience of their staff.  In general, there is more variation among adult family homes and boarding homes, while nursing homes offer more uniformity of services.

Nursing Services

Adult family homes and boarding homes are not required to have licensed nurses on staff; however, some do.  Those that do may be able to accommodate individuals with greater medical problems.

Comprehensive Assessment

A comprehensive assessment is required before you can be admitted to an adult family home.  It would be a good idea to have a comprehensive assessment completed before entering a boarding home as well.

The assessment required before admission to an adult family home must include:

1. Recent medical history;

2. Current prescribed medications, and contraindicated medications (including, but not limited to, medications that are known to cause adverse reactions or allergies);

3. Medical diagnosis by a licensed medical professional;

4. Significant known behaviors or symptoms that may cause concern or require special care;

5. Evaluation of cognitive status, in order to determine the individual’s current level of functioning (this must include an evaluation of disorientation, memory impairment, and impaired judgment);

6. History of depression and anxiety;

7. History of mental illness;

8. Social physical and emotional strengths and needs;

9. Functional abilities in relationship to activities of daily living including:  eating, toileting, ambulating, transferring, positioning, specialized body care, personal hygiene, dressing, bathing and management of own medication;

10. Preferences and choices regarding daily life that are important to the person (including, but not limited to, such preferences as the type of food that the person enjoys, what time he or she likes to eat, or when he or she likes to sleep);

11. Preferences for activities; and

12. A preliminary service plan.

It may be relatively easy to secure the medical assessment from a doctor or nurse.  The social, behavioral and emotional areas of the assessment may be better handled by a social service and/or mental health professional.  Once your needs have been identified with the aid of a comprehensive assessment, take a look at a facility’s schedule of fees and services to see if the facility offers the specific services you need.

While some providers offer to do the assessments themselves, it is preferable to obtain an independent assessment.  There are professional geriatric care managers that can do these assessments for a fee.

Placement Services

There are two types of placement services which help individuals find an appropriate Long-Term Care (LTC) setting.  The first type of service charges a nominal fee or no fee at all; these services receive a finder’s fee from the facility.  The second type of service charges you, the consumer, a fee to find an appropriate LTC setting and has no financial relationship with the providers.  This type of service may also provide care management and assessment services for a fee. 

For more information about geriatric care management including a list of professional care managers in your area visit:

www.caremanager.org

Planning for Two

If you are entering a facility with a spouse or significant other, you may want to consider a facility that provides different levels of care.  These facilities may offer independent living, assisted living, as well as skilled nursing units.  In this way, you can both remain in the same facility, even if one of you requires a different level of care now or in the future.

[ Facility Track Record ] [ Visiting the Facility ] [ Assessing Your Needs ]

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