As Assisted Living Facilities Add Skilled Nursing To Their Repertoire, Is This Really A Move To Improve Patient Care Or Simply An Attempt To Cover More Of The Market?

One of the emerging trends I’ve noticed in the senior care industry is how many assisted living facilities have added skilled nursing care to the services offered by the facility.  Many facilities promote the additional skilled nursing care as an ‘aging in place’ alternative to an undesirable re-locating to a different facility when the need for more intensive care arrives.

While the combination of skilled nursing facilities coupled with assisted living facilities may be useful in some circumstances, there are times where facilities seem to shuffle patients around to take advantage of the less structured care standards in assisted living facilities.

In some of our cases, I’ve seen patients transferred back-and-forth from an assisted living portion of a facility to a skilled nursing section several times within a month.  In situations where there may be ongoing negligent care, it can be difficult to ascertain where the inadequate care originated.

While the distinction between skilled nursing vs. assisting living may seem irrelevant, it is very important for purposes of establishing the appropriate standard of care in the course of litigation.

This issue came to mind after reading an article about an Ohio assisted living facility received a donation for the addition of skilled nursing beds at the same facility.  Below is a short video of the news story.

 

How Much Freedom Should Assisted Living Facilities Give The Mentally Disabled?

Admissions Suspended At An Emeritus Assisted Living Facility Following The Discovery Of: Medication Errors, Bed Sores & Falsified Medical Records

Assisted Living Facilites Need To Re-Evaluate If They Are Capable Of Caring For Dementia Patients