Ohio Nursing Homes - A Guide to Assisted Living and Nursing Homes in Ohio

Long term care is a name for the variety of services performed by assisted living facilities and nursing homes to help meet the needs of people who have a chronic illness or disability. Most Americans alive today will require long term care at some point in their lives. As we age, it becomes more and more difficult to do everything for ourselves. If you live in Ohio and are concerned about your long term care options or about the long term care of a loved one, here is some information that may help you choose a long term care facility.

Costs for nursing homes are high – nearly $50,000 per year, or over $200 a day for a private room. Costs for assisted living facilities are lower, but they are still expensive. Many people wonder how they will be able to pay for their long term care when they become older. Fortunately, for people below a certain income level, Medicaid will pay for a portion or all of their long term care. Unfortunately, Ohio's state government has been recently been putting pressure on Medicaid to reduce its budget. Combined with budget pressure on the program at the federal level, there is some worry that this will reduce the ability of some poor people to get the kind of care they need.

Expansion of kinds of long term care outside of the traditional nursing home, such as assisted living, has been high in recent years. For people who do not need constant nursing supervision, these facilities allow a greater amount of personal freedom and dignity, as well as being less expensive. Other options for elder care include adult day facilities and home care by a family member, friend, or a nursing professional. If you are hoping to utilize one of these options, make sure that you check with your long term care insurance policy first, if you have one. Not all policies in Ohio cover all long term care options.

Ohio nursing homes have recently been subjected to close scrutiny in a number of studies. These studies show a general trend in the state towards more home based services, and a steady but slow fall in nursing home occupancy rates. Increasing medical technology is making it more possible for people to care for their elderly loved ones at home, instead of sending them to facilities away from home. This may be some of the reason for this trend. The trend may also be related to the budget cuts which have occurred in recent years. Legislators have expanded the state's participation in the part of Medicaid that pays for home and community based care, implemented a nursing home pre-admission review to screen out certain types of patients, and placed a moratorium on new construction that would increase the number of available beds in nursing homes in the state. All these factors are combining to mean that the more than half of elderly people whose long term care is supported by Medicaid are staying home to receive it instead of filling Ohio's nursing homes.