Nursing homes provide medical as well as custodial care. It’s typically 24/7 medical coverage. Some stays are short bridges to home, and most are permanent and require constant medical care and supervision.

Ask the hospital staff if you can get care “at Home” and which facility is best.

If it’s permanent, dig deeper. Consult Medicare.gov to create a list of nursing homes near you, that family and friends can visit. Use the Compare tool to find ratings then drill to get the data behind them. Staffing data and medical quality metrics are important.

Make your initial list then ask your doctors, relatives, and friends for recommendations and any to avoid. After they answer, take out and modify your list, then ask again if they would recommend or strike any other.

Call each facility and ask how many people live there, is there a waiting list, and what it costs. If they qualify, set up a visit.

Plan to meet with the director and the nursing director. Modify the Medicare Nursing Home Checklist to develop your own. Ask about policies on palliative and hospice care, and Special care units you might need. Also, ask for the current inspection report. It should be as or more current than the Medicare website and clean.

During the visit question things you notice, it should be clean, odor free, well-lit, accessible and unobstructed. Find out the tenure of the Director and key staff. Turnover is a red flag.

Make an unannounced visit at a different time and weekday to confirm that what you saw before is what residents get.

Before signing a contract, make sure you understand it. Get a friend or family member to review it too.