How can a long-term care ombudsman help?
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If you, or a loved one, is a resident of, or is considering, assisted living, or a nursing home, a long-term care (LTC) ombudsman may be able to help. LTC ombudsman help resolve residents’ complaints, provide information and assistance, advocate for residents’ rights and quality of care, and advocates for system and legislative changes. The LTC ombudsman has the power, based on federal and state law, to protect residents’ rights.
Resolving Residents’ Complaints
The long-term care ombudsman can help residents of LTC facilities who have concerns and complaints about their care or services they receive. LTC ombudsmen have a standardized classification scheme for the types of cases that they handle. The seventeen major categories are listed below and are instructive of the kinds of issues that residents may face in LTC settings:
- Abuse, Gross Neglect, Exploitation
- Access to Information by Resident or Resident’s Representative
- Admission, Transfer, Discharge, Eviction
- Autonomy, Choice, Preference, Exercise of Rights, Privacy
- Financial, Property (Except for Financial Exploitation)
- Care
- Rehabilitation or Maintenance of Function
- Restraints – Chemical and Physical
- Activities and Social Services
- Dietary
- Environment/Safety
- Policies, Procedures, Attitudes, Resources
- Staffing
- Certification/Licensing Agency
- State Medicaid Agency
- System/Others
- Complaints About Services in Settings Other Than Long-Term Care Facilities or By Outside Provider
According to the Administration on Aging, for the most recent year available (2007), “Care” has the greatest number of complaints; about 27%. Care is a broad category that includes accidental or injury of unknown origin, falls, improper handling, failure to respond to requests for assistance, failure to follow plan or physician orders, improper administration of medicines, personal hygiene, and toileting/incontinent care among others.
Environment (air/temp, cleanliness, building, etc.) comes in second with about 11%, closely followed by Autonomy (et al.) at 10% and dietary at about 8%. Detailed statistics, both national and by state, are available from the Administration on Aging LTC Ombudsman National and State Data page.
Information and Assistance
Ombudsmen do more than handle complaints. If you have questions on alternatives to nursing home care, or about your rights in a LTC facility, or on alternatives in long-term care, an ombudsman may be able to help you. Some provide witnessing services for advance health care directives. An ombudsman may be able to attend a resident care plan meeting, or a resident or family council meeting.
Advocates for system and legislative changes
State and regional ombudsman programs work with other advocacy organizations to recommend legislation and regulatory changes that affect LTC residents. They routinely serve on boards and committees of other organizations and actively advocate for policies to promote quality of care.
The National Long Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center is a great place to get a start in understanding what an ombudsman can do for you. Probably the most important page is the ‘Ombudsman Locator‘Â where you can find state and local help.
Related Links
- Detailed description of ombudsman complaint codes (MS Word)
- Senior Help Forum – State and Local Resources Page
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I have had questions about an ombudsman for quite a while now and you answered every single one of them! I feel like I can finally make an educated decision. Thanks for the very helpful resource!