Getting Started
If you're new to this site, the best place to start is with the Site Map, where you can get an overview of the site structure. Alternatively, click on a topic area on the left side of each page, like Finance & Law to see links to subtopics. Of course, try a Search if you can't find what you're looking for.
Much of the information you need is regional in nature. Use the link to Regions (on the upper left side of most pages) to get to a list of regions, then select the region where the person who needs help lives.
Medicare
The Medicare in the United States will pay for the cost of many hospital, physician, and home nursing services, and some other healthcare services as well. Medicare is a federal health insurance program available to nearly everyone in the USA age 65 or over. Information about the program is located in the Finance & Law section of the site. The http://www.medicare.gov site has lots of additional information for consumers about the program, and what it covers.
Medicaid
Medicaid is a state-run program to cover health care costs of people who have little or no money. Because it's state-run, most information will be found in the individual states, although there is some general program information in the Finance & Law section.
State information available varies widely from state to state. Find the appropriate state in Regions and look for the sub-topic called Medicaid. You can also select the sub-topic Organizations and look for the state agency that runs the program. In some states it's easily identified as the Division or Office of Medicaid. If that doesn't help, try agencies with names like Human Services, Health Services, Medical Services, or Medical Assistance, or check the sites of the Areas on Aging. Another way to find information on Medicaid is to select Search, select the correct state and All Counties from the drop-down lists, and type in the word Medicaid.
Other State Services for the Elderly
Other state programs vary widely by state. Services may include financial assistance, property tax relief, utility cost relief, free or low cost legal services, housekeeping, meals and other in-home services, etc. In many states, an agency has been created specifically for overseeing aging services. Find the appropriate state in Regions and look under Organizations. Generally it's called the Department or Division or Office on Aging. If there is no such agency, look for agencies with names like Family Services, Social Services, or Human Services.
More information will be available at the sites of the Area Agencies on Aging. These aging services sites are often good sources of information on lots of aging issues. A good starting point for information about many types of services and programs specific to a state or local area is the Area Agency on Aging. Some of these regional agencies have information available on-line, and others can provide it if you call them.
License and Certification
When looking for health care facilities, you'll want to be sure you are working with licensed and certified providers. In many states, licensing is overseen by the Department of Health, and certification by the agencies that administer Medicare and Medicaid. In some states, the oversight agency has a name that includes the words Assurance, Quality or Licensing.
Several state provide lists of licensed facilities, like Licensed and Certified Health Care Facilities from the Minnesota Department of Health, which you will find on the page for Minnesota. Facilities are surveyed as a part of the licensing process. You may be interested in seeing survey results to help you assess the quality of a healthcare facility. Some states, like Massachusetts, have survey results on-line, Nursing Home Information for Consumers from the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Quality. In other states, you'll have to request these from the individual facility or from the state oversight agency. For nursing home surveys, try Nursing Home Compare, a database of nursing home surveys for all licensed facilities in the United States from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. You can look up facilities by state and city and see the results of the latest state surveys.
Individual healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses, are licensed by a state regulatory agency. You'll have to dig around to find out which agency does that regulation. It could be the Department of Health, or a Department of Regulation. You will want to make sure your healthcare professionals, especially anyone you use for in-home services, meet all state licensening standards.
Each state has a nursing home or long term care ombudsman program. The ombudsmen visit the facilities regularly and help residents and families register complaints or obtain information. You will find information about ombudsman programs at the sites of the aging services organization.
More Information
For other information, use the Search link at the top of every page, select the correct state and county and submit the form. This will bring up a list of organizations that serve that area which you can contact for more help. If there are lots of results, you can refine the search by typing in a key word or phrase to narrow the search.
You may want to check the Glossary to see a glossary of terminology used in this industry.
For more local information, try Yahoo's Local Page, which gives you news, weather, local maps, and a yellow pages where you can find other local services.
You'll need to know zip codes for some search engines. If you don't know the zip codes for the city you're researching, you can use the Zip Code/City Association from the U.S. Postal Service. You type in a city and state, and it returns a list of all the zip codes in that city.