How to use the internet to find a nursing home

• www.caregiverzone.com has a search function which lists local nursing homes in order of priority based on their distance from a specific location.
  
  
• The Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) NURSING HOME SEARCH National Nursing Home Database helps you search its database by Zip Code or State. You can find comprehensive and helpful information on local nursing homes. The Nursing Home Compare Home Page can be located at the following website: www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Home.asp
  
  

Guide to choosing a nursing home

• A Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home published by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) - Medicare and Medicaid, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services can be obtained at: www.medicare.gov/publications/nhguide.pdf
  
  
• Very useful information about your rights and laws affecting nursing homes can be found in the Kansas Elder Law Network site at: www.keln.org
  
  

How to check a nursing home

The Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) NURSING HOME SEARCH National Nursing Home Database helps you search its database by Zip Code or State.

Nursing Home Compare: Part of the Official U.S. Government Site for Medicare Information, can be reached at: www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Home.asp

This provides detailed information about the performance of every Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing home in the country. Beyond the Zip Code Search, additional search functions let you view other topics such as:

• Information about the nursing home
  address, phone number, date of last inspection, number of beds, number of residents, % occupied beds, Medicare and Medicaid participation, type of ownership, whether located within a hospital, chain ownership, resident and family councils.
  
  
• Information about the residents in the nursing home
  Percent of residents dependent in eating, bedfast, restricted joint motion, with restraints, with pressure (bed) sores, with urinary continence, with unplanned weight gain/loss, with behavioral symptoms.
  
  You can select several nursing homes of interest to you and have a comparison chart printed according to any of these criteria.
  
  For example, you could select 10 nursing homes and print a chart showing the % of residents with bed sores in each home compared with the average % in the U.S. and the % in your state.
  
  
• Information about the latest nursing home Inspection Results
  Date of last inspections, number of deficiencies compared with the number in the United States and in your state, description of each deficiency, severity of the problem and level of danger to the resident.
  
  

Missouri Division of Aging

Gives information about its services and other helpful information www.dss.state.mo.us/da