First impression is a VERY good monitor of how the stay at the Nursing home will be. When one is at the hospital the Discharge Planner is communicating with nursing homes about the individual. Yes, they are trying to make the best placement possible for the needs of the individual, but they are also influenced by whom they know at nursing homes. Look at the discharge planner as the used car saleman, trying to place the individual in a car. And view the nursing homes as the car. Many to choose from, but not all run very well.

The discharge planner is constatnly bombarded by solicitation from nursing homes. The homes want the business thus offer up catchy sales pitches or offer up little trinkets(coffee mugs, candy, pens, etc etc) to influence the discharge planner who in turn will influence the patient in picking which nursing home to go too. Yes, it can be a dirty game. But there is ALOT of money that is going to be made by the nursing home and they want your business.

Most poeple do not know this is all going on behind the scenes and just go with what they are told/suggested at the hospital. Having no idea how to investigate on their own before this decision is made. There ARE resources that one can look into. The very first question that one should at the discharge planner when a nursing home is suggested is..."What was their rating from their most recent State survey?" All nursing homes get surveyed by their state every year(they must do this in order to recieve state reimbursment funds). This survey will inform you off all the "tags" (errors) that a facility recieved. I will go into this in detail on a future blog. But just know that the discharge planner is aware of these or at the least can have someone from the prospective facility get you this information.

Keep in mind that the individual or the family of this person are in the position to choose. The hospital is NOT the decision maker. Yes, there needs to be some researching, but this can be done quite easily.

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