Benjamin Franklin said it best - “nothing in life is obvious except death and taxes” but with daily advancements in science, technology and condition care, Americans are living longer than ever before*. This blessing however, has created a unique dilemma for contemporary American families: How to plan for and put in order for one's seclusion years.
Have you taken a road-trip lately? roughly every highway is graced with large bill-boards providing the locations of new planned communities where couples can spend their seclusion years dedicated to recreational pursuits. I doubt you will find a local newspaper that doesn’t have at least one ad promoting the amenities found at a local assisted living facility. Try to hunt for “nursing homes in Virginia” on the Internet and thousands of web pages will appear. Each and every day new facilities gift separate programs are being built and marketed over the state.
Nursing Homes
Is such a facility right for you and your family? If so, which facility? We often hear the terms “retirement community,” “nursing home,” and “assisted living facility” but rarely reconsider what these terms truly mean. The differences however, are astonishing and it is imperative to understand these differences when manufacture choices for yourself or your loved ones.
Nursing Homes
In Virginia, a nursing home means any facility with the former function of providing long-term nursing care, nursing services and health-related services on a chronic basis, for the medicine and inpatient care of two or more non-related individuals**. Put simply, a nursing home is a facility designed for person who needs less care than a hospital, but requires daily condition care assistance.
The Virginia division of condition licenses such facilities and has established guidelines regulating various aspects of their operations, programs, and staffing needs, etc***. For example, a nursing home must: (a) have written policies and procedures with regard to the medicine of residents and the administration of resident care which are ready to residents and their families (12Vac5-360-20); (b) supply crisis healing services within 15 minutes, under general conditions (12Vac5-360-50); (c) be branch to unannounced on-site inspections of the nursing facility by State employees (12Vac5-371-60); (d) have a written trade with one or more physicians licensed by the Virginia Board of medicine to serve as healing director (12Vac5-371-230); and (e) each resident shall be under the care of a physician licensed by the Virginia Board of medicine (12Vac5-371-240).
In addition, residents of nursing homes are also given obvious proprietary as defined by Virginia Code §32.1-138. See http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+32.1-138. Nursing homes are the most regulated and structured residential options for our Seniors requiring some level of daily condition care. If the facility provides care through Medicare and Medicaid programs, it is deemed a "Certified nursing facility" (Virginia Code §32.1-123; Virginia Code §32.1-127) and must be in yielding with both federal and state laws.
Of course, the more rules and regulations that define and operate the daily operations of a nursing home, the greater the accountability of the staff. These are the people who will be expensed with the daily task of caring for your loved one, and manufacture sure they are in yielding with state and federal laws. No matter how nice and or spirited the facility might be, the staff will make the incompatibility in the middle of your loved one being cared for and encouraged, or not.
A nursing home is best grand for someone:
Who requires daily condition care – such as aid getting in and out of bed; taking medicine; or using the restroom. Who may have dementia or Alzheimer’s and as a result, is unable to eat and or bathe daily without reminder or assistance; Who is recovering from a fall or crisis and is therefore unable to walk, dress and or eat without aid
Assisted Living Facility
“Assisted living facility” means an adult care house which has been licensed by the Virginia division of communal Services to supply a level of service for adults who may have physical or thinking impairments and wish at least moderate aid with the activities of daily living. Within assisted living, there are two types: quarterly assisted living for those seniors (typically) who need aid with one or more daily activity; and oppressive assisted living for person who may be incapable of performing activities due to thinking and/or severe physical impairment (12Vac30-120-450).
The Virginia division of communal Services licenses assisted living facilities but does not regulate in the way the division of condition regulates nursing homes. While there are Virginia guidelines regulating aspects of assisted living facilities, they are limited: An assisted living facility must: (a) supply or coordinate personal and condition care services; and (b) supply 24-hour supervision.
As reflected in the table below, assisted living facilities have no enforcement to supply condition care and/or have condition care staff ready to sustain your loved one. In addition, with no enforcement to supply such services, there is the ask as to whether or not they owe a duty to warn or treat residents with illnesses or diseases that could be transmitted from other residents.
While a nursing home will have many nurses on staff and doctors hired to monitor the residents, assisted living is more analogous to an apartment construction or college dorm where laundry and food services are provided and residents are on their own for the rest of the day.
An assisted living facility is best grand for someone:
Who is basically independent but may not be able or willing to put in order their own food or drive to doctors’ appointments; Someone who wants to scale back and anticipates needing aid with laundry, cooking, etc. In the near future. A join where one spouse is independent but may need aid in feeding and or providing for needs of other spouse.
Continuing Care seclusion Community
In Virginia you may also see advertisements for a seclusion community. They are popping up all colse to our beloved College Towns and traveler destinations.
A chronic Care seclusion society provides care depending on your current needs. Like an insurance policy, the resident pays an entry fee and periodic adjustable payments, which in turn gives the resident a package of residential and healthcare services that the Ccrc is obligated to supply at the time these residential and condition care services are required. For example, if upon entering, all you want is help with your meals, that is the only service which will be provided. If you wish oppressive physical therapy or God forbid, daily aid for a Dementia patient, the Ccrc has assisted living services or nursing home services ready under your contract. chronic care contracts are regulated by the Virginia Bureau of insurance of the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
Many Ccrcs can have nursing home services ready whether on-site, or at licensed facilities off-site (12Vac5-360-10). While you may be entering the seclusion society as a very healthy independent and capable resident, as your needs change, so will your covenant with the society and in turn, the facility’s obligations to you.
A chronic Care seclusion society facility is best grand for someone:
Who is basically independent but anticipates the need for daily condition care for themselves or a spouse in the near future; Someone who is physically disabled and would be unable to care for themselves or a spouse if the disability grew worse. With at least three very separate choices, it is very foremost to do your research:
To investigate assisted living facilities in Virginia, go to division of communal Services website: http://www.dss.state.va.us/facility/search/alf.cgi.
To investigate nursing homes, go to Medicare’s website: http://www.medicare.gov
And Last But Not Least
It is always best to speak to a family member of a current resident and spend time getting to know the staff, no matter what type of facility you are finding into. If finding and researching is not enough, then reconsider the chart below – a comparison of the legal duties of a nursing home compared to the legal duties of an assisted living facility in Virginia.
Duty or Requirement
Nursing Home
Assisted Living
Duty to supply nursing care and or monitor resident’s health?
Yes
No
Doctor required to supervise residents?
Yes
No
Each resident shall be under the care of a physician licensed by the Virginia Board of Medicine?
Yes
No
Must have nurses on staff?
Yes
No
Must offer rehabilitative services?
Yes
No
Must have ongoing consultation from a registered dietitian or dietitian on staff?
Yes
No
24 Hour administration required?
Yes
Yes
Must invent a written plan upon admission of resident?
Yes
Yes
Staff must experience criminal background check?
Yes
Yes
Monitored by Virginia center for potential condition Care Services and consumer Protection
Yes
No
Monitored by division of communal Services
No
Yes
*Life expectancy increased dramatically while the past century, from 47 years for Americans born in 1900 to 77 years for those born in 2001. These same factors—improved healing care and stoppage efforts— that are partly responsible for the dramatic increases in life expectancy have also produced a major shift in the foremost causes of death in the United States in the past century, from infectious diseases and acute illnesses to chronic diseases and degenerative illnesses.” The State of Aging and condition in America 2004, published by the center for Disease Control, ready at http://www.cdc.gov/aging/pdf/State_of_Aging_and_Health_in_America_2004.pdf.
**See generally, Virginia Code §32.1-123, as amended and Virginia executive Code § 12Vac5-360-10.
***It is a Felony under Virginia law to operate a nursing facility without a license. See generally, 12Vac5-371-30.
Differences between Nursing Homes, Assisted Living & chronic Care relinquishment Communities
