How to shortlist, tour, question and compare nursing homes before you sign anything.
Choosing a home
The myths that matter are the ones that change a decision. If you believe a five-star rating is a national safety guarantee, you may skip the inspection record entirely. If you believe a family member must sign a payment...
Oct 1, 2026 · 17 min read
Choosing a home
You can move a parent from one nursing home to another at any time, for any reason, and you do not need the current facility's permission. This is a voluntary transfer, not an eviction, and the law treats the two very di...
Oct 1, 2026 · 16 min read
Choosing a home
"Rehab center" and "skilled nursing facility" are usually the same thing with different wallpaper. When a hospital discharge planner hands you a list of "rehab centers," most of those buildings are CMS-certified skilled...
Sep 30, 2026 · 11 min read
Choosing a home
The difference is licensed nursing care. A nursing home (CMS calls it a skilled nursing facility) provides 24-hour licensed nursing and is federally certified and inspected. Assisted living provides housing, meals and he...
Aug 20, 2026 · 13 min read
Choosing a home
Most families move a parent into a nursing home in about 48 hours, from a hospital bed, with whatever bed happens to be open. That is the version nobody plans for and almost everybody ends up living. The families who do...
Aug 19, 2026 · 19 min read
Choosing a home
Hospice and a nursing home are not two options on the same menu. Hospice is a type of care, defined by a terminal prognosis and a decision to stop chasing a cure for that condition. A nursing home is a place, and it is o...
Aug 12, 2026 · 12 min read
Choosing a home
A tour tells you what a building looks like on its best behavior. It tells you almost nothing about what happens at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, which is when most of the things you actually care about go wrong. The checklist bel...
Aug 3, 2026 · 14 min read
Choosing a home
A diagnosis of dementia changes which building is right for your parent, and it changes what you should be looking at once you are inside one. Memory care is a secured setting built for dementia. It might be a dedicated...
Jul 29, 2026 · 16 min read
Choosing a home
Home health can keep a parent at home, but only under specific conditions: the person must be homebound, need skilled care that is intermittent, and have someone reliable in the house between visits. When any of those th...
Jul 23, 2026 · 13 min read
Choosing a home
Twenty-one questions, grouped by what they actually protect: your parent's body, your parent's money, and your own legal footing. Ask them before you sign. The answers to some of them are public record, which means you c...
Jul 22, 2026 · 14 min read
Choosing a home
Short-term rehab after a hospital stay is a Medicare Part A skilled nursing benefit, not a long-term placement. It covers a limited number of days per benefit period, and only while you still need daily skilled nursing o...
Jul 19, 2026 · 15 min read
Choosing a home
Most families start with the wrong question. They ask "which nursing home is best?" when the useful question is "which homes can actually take my parent, at the level of care they need, paid for by the money we have, clo...
Jul 14, 2026 · 16 min read