Medicare has launched a new online system for rating and comparing nursing homes. Besides the various tools to explore nursing home information, the site also provides some basic information on alternatives to nursing home care. In a charmingly colloquially phrased opinion piece, the Honolulu Advertiser summarizes the new system this way:
The long-term care of Hawai'i's kupuna [honored elders] will become a bigger issue in the future, as more of the population gets older and in need of more intensive care.
Certainly, efforts to put more state and federal funding into at-home care — so-called "aging in place" — should be a priority. It can be more cost-effective, more comfortable for the kupuna and help open up nursing home beds for those who really need that higher level of care.
Making sure Hawai'i's nursing homes offer the highest quality care possible is a joint responsibility — the government, the industry and consumers all have a role to play.
The rating system, while not perfect, provides a useful measure of how we're doing and more important, how we can improve.
A recent report (pdf) on effectiveness of programs for helping low-income Wisconsin residents to live at home or in facilities than nursing homes shows that alternatives cost less than typical nursing home care. The next big goal is to expand the programs across the state so that the alternatives are available to all who want them.
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