Minnesota DHS Web site a great place
to start your senior housing search

BY STAFF WRITER
If you're looking for senior housing for yourself or for a loved one, one of the first places you should visit, even before you pour over those fancy brochures and take the guided tour, is the Minnesota Department of Human Services Web site. There you'll find valuable information that might prevent you from choosing the wrong place and having to start your search again and move to another community.

And, while you're at it, check out the federal Medicare Web site, which has some really valuable information on long term care, nursing homes and home health care. For example, you can compare nursing homes based on the number of beds, ownership (private, non-profit, government) and whether they are part of a "continuum of care."

The Department of Human Services conducts surveys of assisted living communities ("Class F Home Care Providers") and nursing home. In addition it provides reviews of assisted living facilities. You'd be wise to go over this material before you go for an onsite visit. It's sort of like doing research on a car before you go in to the show room and smell the leather upholstery.

Surveys

You can download "PDF" versions of survey results for Class F Home Care Providers and for nursing homes. These surveys verify whether a facility is complying with department regulations for providers.

Since the surveys (which started in June 2004) could be outdated for a particular facility, you should check carefully anything that doesn't match what you see on a tour and verify that this situation has really changed since the survey took place.

Reviews

In addition, there are a number of "reviews" of assisted living facilities on the department's site. The reviews, which were initiated in 2007, have basic, but valuable, information about the services offered, such as:

• Whether a nurse is on call 24/7

• Whether someone checks on all residents at least once a day
  

• Whether there are staff on call 24/7
  

• Services offered residents (meals, housekeeping, laundry, transportation, etc.)
  

• "Activities of Daily Living" services provided (bathing, dressing, grooming, etc.)
  Whether a nursing assessment is done prior to move-in

Complaints

In addition to the surveys and reviews of assisted living, nursing homes and home care providers, the Department of Human Services also monitors and investigates complaints against:

• Boarding care homes

• Home care and home health agencies

• Hospices

• Hospitals

• "Housing with services" providers

• Nursing homes

• Supervised living facilities

Results of the complaint reports can be searched from the department Web site by county and type of provider. Complaints are reported as either "substantiated," "unsubstantiated," or "inconclusive."

(Posted: May 13, 2008)