The State of Tennessee Health Department site offers an excellent comparison tool for Tennessee nursing homes. This Tennessee.gov site is located at: Compare Tennessee Nursing Homes Site

Tennessee and federal regulators regularly survey, inspect, and rate Tennessee nursing homes on the care they provide. Medicare compiles these nursing home inspections into a nursing home comparison chart, which you may find helpful in selecting a home for your family member.

Medicare’s report details the number of inspection deficiencies for each Tennessee nursing home during its most recent inspection, as well as the type and severity of each violation. Pay attention to the number of violations each nursing home commits, but also be sure to notice the nature of any problem. As you know, some nursing home violations in Tennessee are far more serious than others.

FACTORS WHEN CONSIDERING A TN NURSING HOME

• Location -- Your loved one in a Tennessee nursing home not only needs your regular visits but also your irregular ones. Studies show that unscheduled visits to nursing homes help prevent resident neglect and abuse. Though it is not always possible, it best that a nursing home be a convenient trip for friends, relatives, doctors, and especially for you. The Tennessee nursing home should also be reasonably close to a hospital that can handle medical emergencies.
• Nursing Home Size -- Though a large nursing Tennessee nursing home may have more activities for residents, remember that smaller Tennessee homes can offer more personal attention and interaction. You should also consider not only the quantity but also the quality of the services and activities the potential Tennessee home offers.
• Financing -- Before any decisions are made, check with the Tennessee facility regarding what medical and other services Medicaid or Medicare will cover. Do not be hesitant to talk money. Know what extra costs are involved in addition to the basic daily room rate and the process of making charges to the account. Often, residents’ accounts will be billed for extra charges beyond basic nursing care and even for things such as television and hygienic necessities like toothbrushes and toilet paper.
• Room Sharing and Selection -- Know the policies for assigning rooms and for roommate selection. Make sure that other rooms will be made available if your loved one has difficulty getting along with a roommate. On a daily level, roommates affect the day-in, day-out life of nursing home residents. In addition to affecting his or her level of happiness, added antagonism and stress can have a very real, very serious affect on your loved one’s physical health.
• Bedhold -- Medicaid will pay for 7 days of bedhold (paying money to the Tennessee nursing home to keep a bed available for a resident’s return after being hospitalized), but it is important to know a prospective nursing home’s policy for keeping a bed available past this 7-day period. Some Tennessee nursing homes offer agreements to keep this bed available and work to help you meet the cost of reserving this space during prolonged hospital stays. Some nursing homes in Tennessee do not.
• Volunteers -- Who volunteers at the nursing home? If community involvement, whether individuals or groups of volunteers, is encouraged and active, this is a good sign of the nursing home’s transparency and care for their residents. Volunteers expand the services available to residence and can help reduce the sense of loneliness that many nursing home residents feel. Also, having more people involved and looking out for your loved one reduces the opportunities for nursing home abuse and neglect and makes instances of abuse and neglect harder for nursing home staff to conceal.
• Morale and Privacy -- Note the current residents of the nursing home’s morale. Do they appear happy and comfortable? Are they allowed privacy and respect? Are the majority who can active? Is there access to things like television and radio? How are the staff’s attitudes? When staff enjoy their job and respect residents, most nursing home residents will in turn enjoy their stay and respect those around them.
• Food -- Whenever you can, check the food being served for quality. When possible, visit during the midday meal, which is typically the main meal for nursing home residents. Feel free to ask residents their opinion of the food the nursing home serves and make sure that if your loved one needs food for a special diet that the Tennessee nursing home can meet these dietary needs.

If you have concerns about a Tennessee nursing home’s care it has provided your loved one, or to report TN nursing home neglect or abuse of a resident, contact the nursing home attorneys of Higgins Firm online or call our 800-705-2121 to discuss the legal options available.