Nursing home planning is about finding the right nursing home, making sure your loved one gets the care they deserve, and paying for that care without going broke.

If you've ever visited more than one nursing home, you know that not all nursing homes are created equal.  The problem is - how do you tell the good ones from the bad?  Most people pick a nursing home based on the proximity to their family members, or based on the looks of the nursing home.  Unfortunately, neither of these criteria are very good indicators of how good a nursing home is and what kind of care your loved one will get there.

To make matters worse, most people don't start looking at nursing homes until they're in a crisis situation.  For instance, you may have a loved one who goes to the hospital for whatever reason and the discharge planner meets with you one day and tells you that your loved one is being discharged to a nursing home tomorrow and you have to pick which facility you want to use.

In times like these, it's important to have an advocate on your side who can help weigh all of your options and pick a facility that can provide the appropriate level of care based on the specific needs of your loved one.  One facility may be very good at providing rehab services after a hip replacement, another one might be better for caring for someone with dementia.  Each facility will have its strengths and weaknesses, it's important to pick the right facility based on the specific care needs of your loved one.

Once a facility is chosen it's important to monitor the care that's being provided to ensure that everything that should be done is being done.  Again, it's important to have an advocate on your side who can advise you in these situations.

Finally, you need to have a comprehensive plan in place to ensure that your loved doesn't go broke paying for their nursing home care.  Despite what you may have heard about the new rules with Medicaid, with comprehensive Medicaid planning there is still a lot we can do to protect a person's assets even after they go into a nursing home.